> Not Just A Bug 2 : Not Just One
>  by Bringiton6611
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - 2 Months Later
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


2 Months Later...


Day 117

It's hard to believe that it has been just 3 and a half months since I woke up in the middle of a clearing in the woods here in Equestria, a land full of colorful talking ponies. Three months since I met a bug that I now call my best friend, and two months since me and said bug started staying here in the Crystal Empire.

It's nice, not having to worry about whether or not you're going to live to see the next sunrise in the morning when you wake up. It's how I lived for a month and a half, having spent 2 weeks of that by myself before running into Thorax and spending the other month of that with him. Now, I don't have to worry.

Princess Cadence and Shining have been very generous by letting Thorax and I stay here. Of course, there were a few rules.

I say were because we don't have all of those restrictions anymore. We only have one right now, and that's to not go into certain parts of the castle without a guard with us. 

Some parts of the castle were completely off-limits no matter if we had a guard with us or not. On top of that, we had a curfew. For those of you who don't know what a curfew is (when you really should) it's a specific time you have to be at a certain place, in our case, it was our room. Thorax and I had to be back in our room at the time they set for us, and we weren't allowed to leave our room until our curfew ended the next morning.

As time went on, our curfew grew shorter and shorter. Now, we don't have one, so we're allowed to be around the castle at any time of the day or night.

This only shows how trusting they've come around to be of us. And because of that, we've been trusting them right back. Hell, I even taught Shining how to shoot my revolver.

Speaking of him, I'm sure you remember that three months ago he tried to kill me, and when I got here two months ago, he apologized to me for it.

I found him two days after he apologized, and said I wanted to talk to him. Once we were someplace more private, I drop the bomb on him right away, and told him I couldn't accept his apology. I mean, how do you forgive someone who tried to kill you? On multiple occasions?

He seemed to understand. He had a look of regret in his eye that was easy for me to see.

So imagine his surprise when I told him we could still be friends. I know he let his emotions drive his actions back then, so I don't blame him that much. I still blame him a little though, just don't tell him that. 

Who knows, one day I might fully forgive him for what he did, but he has a long way to go before he even gets close to that.

Since that day, we've been close friends. Not as close as me and Thorax of course, but he's working for it.

So right now, I'm currently cleaning my rifle, getting ready for later today.

One, yes, I still have my guns, as well as my other gear. They took them at first, but gave them back to me once I gained enough of their trust. The only condition of this though, is that they are to remain in this room unless I have permission to carry them around elsewhere.

Two, Cadence and Shining came by our room yesterday with some... rather interesting news.

Twilight had informed them that there has been a lot of changeling sightings around the Everfree for the past few weeks.

I asked them why they don't just go and take care of the problem.

They told me and Thorax (who was in the room with me at the time) that they wanted us to go with Shining to take care of it.

Again, I asked why they wanted us to go with Shining and some of his guards. They explained that if they were to find any changelings, Thorax might know them and calm them down, or at least try to. They wanted me because I spent a month living in the Everfree when I first entered Equestria. So, they wanted Thorax for negotiations in case the changelings we find panic, and they wanted me for my experience, because apparently, none of their guards had ever stepped foot in the Everfree before, which I found hard to believe, but whatever. 

I wanted to keep gaining their trust, as well as repay them for their trust that they've been giving me, so I agreed to go. Thorax... took some convincing from me after we were left alone. They said if we were going, to be ready the next day around noon. Today is that next day, and a quick glance at the clock on the wall shows it's a little before noon, so I need to finish up here soon. 
I've been practicing with this a lot lately, due to the fact I barley used it last time. And yesterday, I spent twice as long practicing with it when I learned about the little mission I was going to be a part of, and Thorax came with and practiced with me. Thanks to that mirror pool thing or whatever the hell you want to call it, we don't have to worry about ammo. 

Besides this rifle, a have two other side-arms. Well, I guess I should say one, since I gave Thorax one of the two guns, which he still has, so, I decided to give my other gun to Shinning, since he knows how to shoot thanks to me.

This leaves me with my bolt-action, my trusty climbing pick axe, and my switch blade, which I forgot I had since I didn't use it at all last time, so maybe I'll get to use it more this time around.

And that does NOT mean I want something to attack us. I'm... just thinking ahead.

Yeah, lets go with that.

I finish up cleaning the chamber of my rifle when I hear a knock from my door.

"It's open!" I call out.

The door clicks as the doorknob is turned, and the door is opened to reveal Shinning standing there in the door way, decked out in his armor.

"Ready to head out?"

"Give me a second..." I pick up the bolt and slide it back to it's proper place. Giving it a test, I pulled it back and slid it forward and pull the trigger, resulting in a click from the gun. "Ready."

"Good, Cadence and Thorax are already down at the station waiting for us."

"Then lets not keep them waiting."
> Chapter 2 - Onward
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

So far, getting to the train station hasn't been that difficult. I mean, other then the fact that the ponies here still don't know that Thorax and myself are here, forcing me to hide in the wagon that has all of our supplies for the mission in it, it hasn't been bad at all.

And speaking of which, i'm still in here, under all of this shit we decided to bring with us. I hope the station is close, because my legs are falling asleep.

At least it's not dark under here... okay, there's some light peaking in from the cracks above me, so scratch what I just said. It's dark, but not pitch black.

"David, you okay under there?" I hear Shining's muffled voice from outside.

"Please tell me we're there, I need to move."

"Yeah. We're here. Just wait a little while we get some of this stuff off of you."

"There's nobody around to see me?"

"Besides Thorax, Cadence, and all of our guards, no."

"In that case, hurry up and get this shit off of me."

"Okay, give us a second."

For the next few minutes, I feel the weight on top of me slowly get lighter and lighter as the gear is removed and placed on the ground beside the wagon. Before long, one of the guards lifts what I'm assuming is a tent off of my face. 

Now I can breath normally again. Nice.

After a few more minutes, my body and some space around me is free, giving me enough room to stand. After readjusting my hat, I hop off of the wagon and head toward the train, returning a wave that Cadence gives me as I pass her. She suggested that once we get here, for me to get on the train right away. That way, if some random pony came around for whatever reason, they wouldn't see me and flip shit. She gave the same suggestion to Thorax as well, so Thorax must be already on the train.

My thoughts are correct when I enter the train and round the corner.

I see Thorax sitting down on the other side of the train compartment. He doesn't look up, and doesn't even react. He probably didn't hear me come in. 

I start walking over to him. As I get closer, I can see that Thorax is deep in thought. His face having worry written clear as day all over it.

"You okay buddy?"

He jumps a little at my voice and quickly looks up at me. He forces a smile as he responds. "H-hey David."

"You looked lost in your head. What's on your mind?"

"N-nothing. I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

"Thorax, don't bullshit me. I saw your face. What're you thinking about?" I ask, sitting next to him. 

'This seat is too small.'

"I... was thinking about the trip."

"And what about the trip?"

"...I don't know if I want to do this anymore. When we were with each other that first month, we almost died. A lot of times. Maybe I should just stay here at the Empire." Thorax said as he made a move to stand up. I quickly stopped him.

"Thorax, come on. We need you. If there is even a chance of finding other changelings, you being there could save us a lot of trouble."

"I don't know..."

"There's over ten guards coming with us, including Shining. If something does happen, we'll all be there to fight whatever we run into. You'll be fine."

"... okay." Thorax got back in his seat. "I still don't feel good about this whole thing."

"You don't have to feel good. Hell, I don't feel that great about this."

"Then why are you going?"

"Because I know it's the right thing to do. It can save Shining and the other guards some trouble if we do get in some trouble. You being there might be the only thing that keeps a changeling, assuming we find one, from attacking us out of panic."

Thorax remained quiet.

"Look, just think about it, okay? If we get there, and you're still having second thoughts about all of this, you can stay with the train. Nobody is going to force you to go." He still doesn't respond, but he does nod his head a little, showing that he did hear me.

Around this time, all the guards pile on the train, sitting around us. Shining soon followed in behind them. "You guys ready?"

I spare a quick look at Thorax, before turning back to address him. "Yeah, we're good."

"Glad to hear it." He says as he takes a seat across from us.

The train lets out a loud whistle as it jerks forward.

We were off to a place I hopped to never return to, but despite that, I know I'm doing the right thing.





The train ride was uneventful, thankfully. Just some chit-chat here and there.

The only downside to this trip, was that the train ride was hours long. Just sitting here in the same seat for... around 4 or 5 hours, I think.

We couldn't ride all the way to the station in Ponyville, for reasons clear as day, we stopped around 15 minutes from the town. This way, we could get off without anyone seeing us, or me/Thorax, and we could set up camp here, just outside the forest, before going in the next day.

The guards around me are setting up the camp just inside the forest. I'm, on the other hand, instead of helping like I should be doing, I'm sitting here on a box ab-site mindfully running my fingers along the scar on my right hand. For the people who have zero clue how the scar got there, I got this scar from the day Shining Amour came about 2 inches from killing me.

Considering with what happened to him at the wedding (He filled me in) I'm amazed he even let Thorax stay in the Empire, much less me after I shot him in the leg.

Speaking of Shining, I spot him out of the corner of my eye. He's waving me over, probably a clue that I should start helping.
> Chapter 3 - Concerns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 118

Okay, not the best sleep I've had, but certainly not the worst. You think that I wouldn't be the guy to complain when I sleep on the ground, considering I slept like that for my first month and a half in Equestria, but I've slept on a bed for 2 months and I forget what it was like to sleep on the floor.

And I would've preferred to keep it that way, but life had other plans.

Right now, me and the others have just finished packing up the camp, and have started our mission to find any surviving changelings out here.

I don't know how hard this is going to be, but finding another changeling this long after the invasion just doesn't seem that likely. I only meant Thorax because he crashed into me, and we didn't see any changelings at all during out time together in these woods, but here's to hoping.

Shinning is leading us though the woods, my revolver sticking out of his amour beside his sword. Behind him are Thorax and myself, Thorax has my other revolver tucked between his wings, and I have my hunting rifle clipped to the side of my pack on the left side. I also have my pick attached to my belt, and my switchblade is in my pocket, ready for use. Behind us are about 10 to 15 guards, all equipped with either swords or spears. Or both.

I talked to Thorax again this morning about staying or going on this trip. He said he still wants to do it, that he wants to help us, but looking at him right now, he looks like he's about to shit a brick.

"Hold up." I hear Shinning say from in front of me. I look toward his direction to see him motioning me over, and to stay quiet. I comply and crouch down while making my way over to him. I reach him and take the position beside of him. 

"What's wrong?" I ask in a whisper.

"Over there, see him?" He replies, pointing ahead of us.

I follow his hoof and see what he means. About 30 feet away from us, is a Timber Wolf, which appears to be eating something.

"What's it eating?" I hear a guard behind me ask, as Thorax appears beside me.

I take my hunting rifle from my pack and rise it up to look though the scope. It's eating something, that's for sure, but I still cant tell what.

I notice the Wolf's head pops up every so often, giving my a clear view of the top of its head. I got a idea.

"Still can't tell, but I have a shot if you want to find out." 

Shining looks to the wolf for a few seconds, before nodding his head at me.

I pull the bolt of my rifle back, take a bullet from my back pocket and slide it in to the chamber. I slide the bolt back in to place and turn the safety off while lining up the shot.

I take a breath and hold it to make my aim steady, and after a few seconds, I pull the trigger. 

*BANG*

The wolf instantly goes limp and falls forward onto it's meal.

"Got him."

"Nice. Now lets see what it was eating."

I put my rifle back on my pack and move forward with Shinning.

I see Shinning visibly cringe when he gets close to the body, and when I close, I see why.

There isn't red blood like you'd expect. Instead, the blood is green...

...like a changeling's.

Shinning gives me a look, and motions me to help move the Timber Wolf.

I move to help him, and within a few seconds, the wolf is out of the way, and we can clearly see what the wolf was eating.

In a pile of green blood and gore, is a changeling. Dead, of course.

I here a gasp from behind me and turn to see Thorax staring at the body with wide eyes. After a few seconds, he slowly backs away until he's a good 20 feet away and sits down, leaning on a tree.

"Umm, one or two of you should probably make sure he's okay." I say to a few random guards.

Two of them nod and moving to Thorax. Meanwhile, Shinning starts to investigating the body, of the changeling, with me in tow.

"He's been ripped apart."

"No shit. What, how do you know that's a he?"

"Body structure."

"...Okay, that makes sense." I say while looking at the body up and down. I cringe when I see his face. The changeling's face has a look of horror plastered on it. His mouth open in a silent scream of agony, eyes widened and frozen with his lifeless stare to the sky.

That sounds hella morbid when I say it aloud, huh?

"Some of the blood hasn't dried yet. He hasn't been dead long. Probably a hour or two." Shinning says.

"If we would've woken up and gotten moving earlier, we would've had a chance to save him. He would've still been alive..." I say to myself.

I'm not usually one to take death that hard, put considering Thorax's reaction, and the fact that the only reason we're out here in the first place is to find and recuse changelings.

"We should take him back to the Empire. Bury him." I suggest.

Shinning stays silent for a second before replying, "Yeah, I'll have some guards take him back to out main base camp. We can take him back to the Empire." He gets up after finishing the sentence, and moves to Thorax. I follow behind.

Not the way I wanted this trip to start out.
> Chapter 4 - Doesn't Add Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After making sure Thorax was okay to keep moving, we continued down the path that Shining had mapped out for us. If everything goes well, we'll circle back to base camp in a week or so.

The body we just found back there did prove one thing. There ARE changelings out here. We just have to find one that's alive and hopefully won't try to kill us.

But I have a feeling life has other plans for us, because life's a bitch. At least out here it is.

Not even 10 minutes after we started walking again, we come across another road block. 

It looks like a tree fell and blocked the path ahead. That wouldn't sound weird, if one small wasn't showing.

"Hey, look over here." I call out to Shining. Once he's beside me, I point at where the tree snapped. Or rather, where it was cut.

"See those?" I point at the markings, "Someone cut this tree down, and looking at those cuts, it wasn't long ago." 

He muttered something I can't understand and then turns back to me. "I'll see if the guards and myself can do anything about this. Try to see if there's a way around this in case we can't."

I nod my head and start looking. 

This doesn't make any sense. Why go though the trouble of cutting down a tree just to leave it? And it seems very weird that whoever did this just so happened to pick the tree that would block our path. This area is covered with overgrown... everything. It would be a pain to find a way around. Maybe I can find a clean way.

After a few minutes of searching around, I find what appears to be an old chain link fence. The door to the gate is jammed, but I can see where someone cut a hole though it a few down the fence. I guess that's going to be where we're going. I go to turn around, to go back to Shining, to tell the news... only to stop dead in my tracks when I catch movement on the other side of the fence.

I take a closer look, and it seems to have a outline of a pony, that much is clear. What's unnerving about it, is that I tell it's looking at me. 

And I looked right back. And feel my heart stop when I see it's eyes.

They're solid blue.

Just like a changelings.

Before I can look anymore, the changeling turns around and darts away from me, disappearing into the forest.

Okay, at least I know there are live changelings here.

...

I should probably go back to Shining.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I returned to Shining and the others, they had made close to no progress on the tree. I told them about the fence I found, and they agreed that it would be better to go that way, instead of staying here.

Then I told them about the changeling I saw.

They seemed surprised at first, but that quickly went away as mixed emotions and suggested came out.

Some of them said we should follow him/her right away.

Some of them said we should forget about him/her and worry about him/her later.

We came down to continue on our way, and if we saw him/her again, we would follow them.

They all agreed and Shining asked me to show them the way to fence, which is where we are now,

"The hole is just.... down... there it is." 

"Where'd you see the changeling?" I hear a guard ask from beside me.

I point on the other side of the fence. "Just on the other side. I'd say about 20 or 30 feet from the fence. They took off like a bat outta hell when I tried to get closer."

With that sentence finished, I push myself though the small hole on the fence. Once on the other side, I noticed something that catches my eye.

There's small green spots on the fence, as well as a small splatter of it on the ground.

"Look." I point to the green spots. "Is that blood?"

"Looks like it."

I take a closer look, and start to see a path of it going in the direction of the changeling. I move over there, and see the blood continues the same way the changeling went.

"That changeling that I saw must've gone though that hole in the fence just before I found it. And from the looks of it, it was hurt."

"Hmm... alright, new plan. We go find that changeling as soon as possible."

I nod as I let Shining take the group forward. 

I notice Thorax at the back, and move towards him.

"Hey, how you holding up?"

"Uh... could be better. I kept thinking I saw something in the trees. It's not a good feeling."

"I hear you. Being watch is one of the worse feelings someone can ever have."

"Have you ever had that feeling? Before you came to Equestria, I mean."

"Sometimes, yeah. Mostly it was when I was in the woods."

"The woods?"

"Yeah. My house back on the earth was surrounded with woods, and I always liked to go walking them. There was this one clearing that I found during the winter, I was on my way back to my house because the sun was setting, and I got the best view of the sunset from there. Of course, during the day it was nice, but once sun goes down, those woods became about 6 times creepier. There were times where I actually got lost in them, and had to spent the night in them... good times."

"Sounds like a good life."

"Yeah, I was younger at the time. Fourteen, I think."

"How old are you now?"

"Eighteen. Turning nineteen is a few mouths.... What about you?"

"Oh, um... sixteen."

"You're sixteen? Really?"

"Yep, really."

"Damn."

"Hey! You two! You're going to want to see this!"

We start jogging to catch up to Shining and the rest of the group. When we do, we see what they see. 

And my jaw hits the floor.
> Chapter 5 - Ambush
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well holy shit. I can see way he wanted us to see this.

In front of us is a clearing. And in that clearing, is about 15-20 changelings. 

All Dead.

"Holy shit... maybe one of them is still alive?"

"Maybe... Spread out! Look for anything that may tell us what happened!"

With a echo of 'Yes sir's', Shining and the other guards start looking around the clearing. I look back at Thorax to see him staring at the mess in front of him, not moving a muscle.

"Just... stay here. K?"

He gives a weak nod. I suppose that's as good as i'm going to get right now.

With that, I turn and start helping in the search.

Jesus, this is not a pretty sight, if you haven't figured that out yet.

I choose a random body that doesn't have a guard already there and move to it. 

Upon arriving, I can already tell that the blood around the body is dry, so these changelings have been dead for some time. 

But then I notice something that catches my eye. 

There are gashes along the changelings side, but there not rigid like from an animal. These cuts are clean, like from a knife or something.

"Shining!"

He looks in my direction and I motion for him to come over.

"Find anything?"

"Look at these. There clean cuts. The likely hood of this being an animal is small. I'm thinking that someone did this, not something."

"Your body is not the only one like this. The other all have cuts from something sharp, and some have injuries from magic. Plus, one of the bodies had a arrow in its neck."

"A pony had to have done this... but why kill them? I know that some ponies must still be mad from the invasion, but Jesus. This is a little much, even for revenge. And from what Thorax said, the changelings didn't kill anybody in Cantorlot, just drained them."

"I don-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Captain! One's still alive!"

I stand up, but Shining puts a hoof up as he gets up. "Can you stay here and keep a look out? Whoever did this could still be out there."

"PLEASE, JUST STAY AWAY!"

With a nod, I say, "Yeah, sure."

He faces Thorax, who still hasn't moved, and motions him to join him and the others. With shaky steps, he follows him.

The changeling is still screaming bloody murder behind me, but I do my best to tune him (The voice sounded male, so I didn't assume it's gender) out as I start scanning the woods. It becomes harder when the changeling spots Shining, but I still manage.

Lets see... tree... tree... tree.... OH MY GOD, IT'S A ROCK.... tree.

"LET GO OF ME!"

"Please, calm down! We're trying to help!"

...If your trying to help him, maybe it's not a good idea to hold him down, because that's exactly what it sounds like their doing.

After a few more seconds of listening to screaming, it dies down, but I can still hear panicked breathing, so I'm going to assume that Thorax started talking. 

Everything seemed like it was starting to calm down.

Then I took an arrow to the knee.

"AHH, FUCK!"

Despite what just happened, I couldn't keep a thought out of my head.

I used to be a adventurer like you. Then I took a-

YEAH, I KNOW. IT FREAKING HURTS!

My yell caught everyone's attention, and Thorax is the first to see what has happened to my leg. 

"David!"

"Get down!" I yell as more arrows come flying by. I take cover behind a tree, and the others take cover behind a small mound of dirt. It's small, but it's tall enough to keep them safe. For now.

The arrows stop firing as our attackers lose sight of us. Instead, they start yelling at us.

"Show your faces! We know you have some insects with you!"

I hear the word insects, and I quickly put the pieces together.

The arrow that Shining said was in one of the bodies. The magic burns. The gashes.

These ponies are hunting changelings.

I turn my attention to where the others are hiding, and I can now see the changeling that was screaming his head off earlier. He looks absolutely petrified. He's actually hugging onto one of the guards for dear life.

"Why are you protecting those bugs!? They deserve what's coming!"

Dear god, these ponies insane. I assuming they shot me because they didn't know what I was, and immediately thought I was a changeling.

"Timber wolves!" I here one of the attacks shout, follow by more yelling and growling from said wolves.

It went from zero to a hundred real quick, holy shit. Peaceful to what the fuck is happening.

Then one of the wolves takes notice of me.

"Oh shit!" With the attackers attention now focused on the wolves, I move from my cover and start limping my way to the others. 

Then the wolf tackles rams into my side, causing me to fly about about 10 feet to the right.

I quickly get back up and start limping with the speed of a fox, despite my injury. I have so much adrenaline running though me, it's actually ridiculous. I'm not complaining, its what's keeping me alive.

The battle behind me is growing quiet, telling me that I'm getting farther away. I don't hear the wolf behind, but I'm not taking chances.

I'll have to find my way back to the others later. I just hope Thorax doesn't flip shit while I'm not there.
> Chapter 6 - Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll admit, I was never really one to be scared of pretty much anything.

Now? I'm actually scared for my life. Or rather was. I'm not so much now. I am however worried about Thorax. If I know him, he'll flip shit and freak out without me there, considering how close we've become. 

It's been about 10 or so minutes since I was separated from the others, and about 3 minutes since I lost the damn Timber Wolf that chased me away from the group.

I hope everyone's okay, and I hope the fuckers that attacked us die in a hole...

...Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but I don't really care right now. What I care about is finding my way back to the others. I don't hear anything from the direction I came from, so that means one of two things.

One, The others won the battle with help of the timber wolves.

Or two, They ran for it.

Either way, they live. I know there's a chance for death, but knowing Shining, It takes a lot to bring him down, and I know he'll protect Thorax for me while I'm gone for however long that may be.

But now, since that timber wolf is gone, at least for now, I can treat my leg, which still has the arrow in it.

I'll be honest, I have no clue how I lost the wolf, considering how limited my speed was. I guess I took advantage of the terrain. Look at me, I don't even know what I did when I did it.

Okay, getting off track again, bad time too. The arrow is just above the knee, but I can't tell if it's in the bone or not.

One way to find out, but before I do that...

I take off my backpack and open it up, quickly locating a red box with a white plus on it, reading 'First Aid' right below it.

Wondering how I got this? Later that day, when I agreed to this trip, Cadence stop by our room and asked me if there was anything I needed for the trip. Thorax was elsewhere, otherwise she probably would've asked him too. I'm sure she did when she found him later that day. I did I quick mental check of my pack. I had a knife, two guns at the time, and my pick. Plus a shit ton of ammo. 

It's no mystery what my answer was.

I now have a first aid kit with the following: bandages, painkillers, anti-septic, which I believe is a disinfectant, antibiotics, and stuff for stitches. You know what's funny? I don't know how to stitch up a wound. Well, I kinda know to do a shitty job at it. I can't tie those knots the doctors do. Anybody who knows me would find that shocking, considering my mom is a nurse, and my dad was in the military. You would think one of them would've taught me. 

Moving on, the first aid kit wasn't the only thing I got from Cadence.

In addition, I also have some nylon rope, food and water, and a map with a compass.

The rope I can use to tie things together, because that's why rope exists. While I have no clue what I could tie together, rope is usually pretty useful for anything, so I'm sure I'll find something to do with it. Food and water I shouldn't even have to explain. The last time I was here, I ate plants. Now I have some energy bars. Better than plants. The map, again, I shouldn't have to explain. The same with the compass.

I'll look at the map later, I have to take care of the arrow, which is STILL in my leg, and it STILL FREAKING HURTS!

Putting my pack to the side for now, I went to pull up my jeans...

Only to realize I couldn't with the arrow STILL in my leg, since it did go through my jeans.

I'll have to remove the arrow first... this isn't going to suck at all. Nope, not all all.

Not at all... -_-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...Yep...that di... didn't suck at all...

Since I don't really know how to tie stitches, and the wound turned out to be small, I just wrapped it up with the bandages I had.

Still, It hurts like a bitch, and I still can't walk without a limp.

With all of that being said, It's time to move.

I pack up the first aid kit and place it back in my backpack, and after making sure I have everything packed away, I stand up using a tree as support and slip on my pack. Before leaving the tree, I glance to the side of it and spot a branch that must have fallen from the tree.

Wow, good eye. I never would've guessed that branches came from trees. 

Brain, I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T SHUT FU-.

Reaching over to the branch, I firmly grasp it.... and Spongebob flash backs, for anyone who saw that episode.

God I miss TV. 

Picking it up and standing it up reveals it to come to my chest, and the branch is in the shape of a capital y.

Okay, that's so convenient, it's stupid. Sound familiar? I said the same thing about that mirror pond thing.

Getting off track again. With a grunt, I start walking in a random direction, 

Before you say anything, yes, I know I have a map, but I want to be out of the open before I use it. Between the timber wolves and the other creatures of this forest. Plus the bandits that are apparently killing changelings when they find them, wether the changelings are friendly or not, AND the changelings themselves. Thorax isn't with me now, so if I find a changeling that's friendly, how the hell am I going to convince it that I'm friendly as well.

I guess I'll cross that bridge when or If I come to it.
> Chapter 7 - The Campsite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that's something.

After walking for what a think would be an hour or so, I've found what appears to be a campsite. Abandoned, of course. Just like everywhere else out here. 

But just because it's abandoned, doesn't mean there's nothing worth taking. Everything little bit can help me. 

Approaching the site, I start to take in the surroundings of the place. 

It's completely in the center of these woods, one could easily miss it if they didn't know it was here. The only reason I found it was because I was walking straight in its path.

There's the tent and fire pit, the thing that make a camp site a camp site... if that makes... since.... what the hell?

There's embers in the fire pit. Hot, glowing embers.

This was used recently...

I suddenly have mixed emotions about this. On the good side, it means ponies may or may not come back, but there's a chance that I can get help. On the bad side though, the ponies here could be the exact same as the ones that attacked me, and that would be bad. Very bad. In my current condition, I don't know if I'll be able to fight back if that were the case. Yes, I have my rifle, but the fire rate is shit.

I'll just stay near by and wait I guess. If it turns out the ponies are not so friendly, I can quitely sneak away.

Then my stomach growls. I'm about to take off my pack when I remember something.

I don't have any food packed with me. It's all stored at base camp. The protein bars I had with me I ate earlier.

...Well shit.

What the hell I'm I gonna do here... I guess I can look around the area for some plants or something like that. Thanks to the knowledge I gained during my first two weeks here, and some studying in the Empire, I have an idea of what to look for and what to avoid. I learned of this plant called poison joke... it does not sound fun.

Since I'm not going too far, I'll leave my stuff here. Not all of it, of course, just my knife and my rifle will do. 

I open my pack and feel around for my knife, and within about four seconds, I feel it enter my palm, and after grabbing some spare bullets, I zip it closed and start scanning for hiding places.

The tent? No. If someone else finds this place, I can kiss my stuff goodbye. Not that I couldn't threaten them for it, but I'm hoping to avoid that, or anything similar.

A tree? No. Even if I got it up there, I don't think I would be able to get it back. With my knee the way that it is, I doubt I can climb.

... I guess I could dig a small hole and then cover it back up. I would just need to remember where It is.... yeah, I'll do that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I settled on a spot that I thought I could remember easily. A triangle of trees with a small bush in the middle of it. My pack is buried beside the bush, to the left when you're facing the camp. Hopefully, I can find something out here before it gets dark. I don't know the exact time (remind me to get a watch or something sometime) but I can tell it's getting late. The sun is starting to go down, making a orange light shine down across the trees. It would be peaceful, if I wasn't in one of the most dangerous in Equestria right now. 

But hey, I survived this place once for a month and a half. I'm pretty sure I can live for a few days until I can find the others. Atleast I hope so.

Back on the topic of food, I couldn't really find anything close to the campsite, so I decided to head out a decent distance away from the site. I little father than I would've liked, but I couldn't find anything, so it was the best option. There is also a steam running close to the camp, so if I need water, I can use that. I made sure my bottle was full before I left base camp this morning, so I don't have to worry about water.

So far, I've only found a couple of berries off a bush here and there. I don't remember what they're called, but I remember that they're safe to eat.

I guess that's good enough, I can always look tomorrow while I search for the others. Hopefully I won't be out here for more th- OH SHIT.

Quickly ducking to the ground and into a nearby bush, I watch as a timber wolf walks by me. Damn, have I ever said that I hate those things? Yes, I have. I slowly pull my rifle off my back and aim at the wolf, knowing already that a bullet was in the chamber. All I had to do was turn the safety off, which I had done. 

Right before I pulled the trigger, I freeze. What if there are more of them nearby? Shooting this one could alert others that may be nearby. I can't risk that.

Putting the safety back on, I slowly exit the bush. My face turns to a grimace as the pain my knee becomes worse from the pressure. I'm not using my branch that I found, the reason being that I need to get use to not using it, even with the hole in my leg. The last thing I need is to be in a situation where I have to run away, and I can't because I not have my branch. I'm considering it pratice not using it.

Another hour passes before I start to see the camp site again. I'm thinking I can sleep in the bush for the night. It will be uncomfortable, but I won't be seen easily if anything happens to walk by.

Wait... why does it look like the fire is lit...? Oh you have got to be kidding me. Whoever's camp this is must've come back while I was gone. Man I'm gald I hid my stuff. As I get closer to where I buried my stuff, I begin to hear a conversation. I hear two voices, one male, one female. Okay, so there's two of them here. If push comes to shove, I can j-.... holy shit.

One of the someone's just came into my view, and the first thing I notice is their eyes.

Solid blue.

Changelings.

That would explain why there was no food at the camp, since changelings normally don't eat solid food.

So a male and female changeling, in the middle of the woods. I think about making myself known, I mean, just because I didn't find food while searching the camp, doesnt mean that they don't have any. Plus, the only reason I'm out here is to find changelings.

But what if these changelings are bad news? All it would take is an last from one of them and I'm screwed. Is it worth it?


(Make Yourself Know)               (Stick To The Shadows)

> Chapter 8 - Greetings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


(Make Yourself Known) (Stick To The Shadows) 


This is such a bad idea... but it is my job to find changelings, and that means confronting them, as much as I would rather just keep walking, but that's not a option.

Retrieving my stuff, I slowly stand up and look at the camp. The two changelings are still sitting by the fire, still talking about who knows what. One of them stops talking and starts walking toward the tent they have, I have to catch them before that one goes.

Here goes nothing...

I slowly walk forward and put my hands in the air in front of my chest. If things go bad, I have my knife in my pocket. Yes, I can get it in time, I have quick reflex's. I'll just have to hope that they're quick enough. 

"Hello?"

The changeling by the fire immediately stood up and charged their horn at me, while the other one, halfway in the tent, acts like they just shit their self. So there's a tough one, and a not so tough one that reminds me of Thorax, but not so much. Thorax isn't a female, and that yelp sounded a lot like a female.

"Take it easy..." I say. I really don't want to get shot...again.

"Who are you?" The tough one asks me, not breaking eye contact with me. Okay then, two can play at that game. Show no weakness.

I respond staring right back. "My name is David, I was sent here the royal guard to find changelings to-"

"-lock up, right?" He cuts me off. "No thanks. I don't feel like rotting and starving in a prison cell."

"No, just to bring them back to the Crystal Empire, to give them shelter, and a chance."

"Heh, a chance? Yeah, right. You expect use to believe that? How stupid do you think we are?"

While I could be a smart ass and say something I might, and will regret, no matter what a say, but I don't want to piss him off. There goes something I really wanted to say...

"You haven't given me a reason for me to think you're stupid. You're clearly not if you managed to hide this camp so well. The only reason I found it was because it was straight in my path."

"... How do we know your really part of the guard? You're not a pony, clearly, and you could be one of those bastards that's been hunting us. You're going to have to give us proof. A lot of it."

So swearing does exist in this world. I thought otherwise because I have not heard a single person swear in this world. I guess I have to watch what a say in front of Flurry. NOT because I've done it before, mind you.

Well shit.... what the hell I'm I supposed to do? I have nothing on me... wait...

"I know about those ponies that have been hunting you, they attacked me and my group and caused us to get separated. Don't believe me? They use bow and arrows, and one of them shot me in the leg. Do you think they would attack each other?"

The changeling's eyes looked down to my leg, and saw the bandage, which now had a little blood seeping through.

"I know you..." I hear a new female voice say. I look up and see that the other changeling had spoken up. "In the woods, I saw you on the other side of a-"

"-Old fence."

The changeling nodded. The other looked surprised. "When was this?"

"A few hours ago, when I went out to search for anything useful."

There was a blood trail... "I saw some blood on the ground once I got through the fence with my group, was it yours?"

"...Yes. I ran into a group of those hunters, (Last Of Us flashbacks) and of their arrows it my in my leg. I was lucky I was able to hide from them."

She turn to her partner, "If he was one of them, he would've been with them. They never go anywhere alone."

"... Okay, so maybe your not a hunter, but your still not a guard, and even if you are, how can we trust you?"

What can I say? I can't say that much to... wait... yeah, that might work.

"Does the name Thorax ring a bell?"

Bingo. They both look surprised.

"Where do you know that name?"

"Thorax is a changeling just like you. He's kind of shy, nervous, and didn't want to do the invasion of Cantorlot. He's my best friend and was the first living thing that didn't try to kill me when I meet him." I don't want to mention Twilight, so I'll leave her out. "He was one of the members in my group that I was separated from. Still don't believe me?"

The Changeling that is holding me at horn point looks like he wants to believe me, but can't. The other looks the same.

"To prove that I'm not some asshole in the woods, and that I'm from the Crystal Empire, there's a thing in the city that protects it, right?

"Yes..."

"It's a crystal heart. Keeps the weather out." I'll have to thank the library and Cadence later.

"And on top of that, you said you were hurt, right?"

She looked caught off guard that she was just put on the spot. "Yes."

"I have a first-aid kit in my bag. I can bandage it for you."

...

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before looking back at me. 

"...Okay, I believe you." I can tell he doesn't really want to, his voice says that. "But the more eyes we have the better. If you try anything, or do anything that we don't like, you're gone."

"Fair enough... do you have names?" The changeling that was threating me spoke for the two. "My name is Sean. My friend is Luo."
> Chapter 9 - Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I bandaged Luo's leg (with Sean watching me like a hawk) we gathered around the camp fire and sang our campfire song and was hoping to discuss what our plans are going to be now that I'm here.

But we've just been sitting in awkward silence for the past 5 minutes, which isn't THAT surprising, just looking at each other and the fire.

You can definitely feel the cringe in the air.

"So...nice w-" Sean tried to start, but I cut him off.

"I swear if you say what I think you're going to say."

He doesn't respond. 

"Okay then, I guess since i'm here now, are your plans any different from what they were? Did you even have a plan?" I start this time. Anything to end the cringe ;-;.

"Our plan was to hide out here until other changelings came looking for us... but because of the hunters, that's starting to become not so likely to happen."

"I've seen other changelings. Found a whole group of them, but they were dead when my group found them. Expect for one. That's when I was separated.

"How big was the group you found?" Luo asks me.

"Umm... 15? 20? There were a lot of bodies."

"Do you know the changelings name that was alive?" Luo asks me again.

"Didn't get a chance to talk. Arrows were flying before I got within 10 feet of him."

"... There's a chance that that's Kale." Luo thinks aloud.

"Who?"

"Kale's another changeling that was with us a few days ago, but hunters split us apart. How far did you run before you stumbled across this place? If it's not that long, then there's a chance that Kale's okay."

"I have no clue, but I know it wasn't THAT far."

"That good to hear! We could go back an-"

"Hold up," I cut Luo off. "I know I didn't run that far, but I have no clue where to go. I was chased by a timber wolf. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Oh..."

"We still have to try to look." Sean cut in. "We can't just sit here."

"We can look in the morning. Who knows what wanders out here at night."

"...fine."

For just meeting me a few hours ago, both of them are surprisingly accepting of me now. Weird, considering Sean almost shot me earlier... forget ponies just being weird, changelings are up there too.





Day 119

After that discussion, we all went to sleep. I chose to sleep outside next to the fire for two reasons. One, it's warm. Two, I do not feel comfortable sleeping next to two changelings. Especially when one of them is female. Took me long enough to convince myself that it wasn't weird with Thorax...

Moving on, Sean was the one who woke me up... by poking me with a stick.

I happily snapped it in half.

Then I was sad when I realized it was my walking stick.

Congratulations, you played yourself.

Brain, holy shit. Shut the f-

Anyway, I convinced myself hat it was better not to have it. Plus I could always find another one.

After I waited for Sean and Luo to pack up their stuff, we all went the direction that I had come from last night.





After about 3 hours, Luo and I were sitting down in a random location, waiting for Sean to come back from scouting. 

And I just so happened to get an idea.

Without warning, I stood up (which scared the piss out of Luo) and made for a tree that looked climbable.

"What are you doing?" I hear Luo ask.

"Climbing a tree." I take out my trusty pick and leap for the lowest branch, which I cacth.

"Why?"

"You'll see."

I climb the tree, much like I did last time, expect I don't plan to fall again. It sucked enough last time.

About 10 minutes go by before I reach as far as I can go up he tree. Holy crap, I'm relieved that this tree is higher than the others, that was something I was afraid of. 

I begin scanning the area around me. It takes a moment, but I find a familiar sight.

Way off in the distance, is what appears to be a old castle.

The same castle I spent my first two weeks in Equestria in.

Why is this important? When I first came to Equestria, and I meant Twilight for the first time, she said something about a town east from there. If it's where she lives, I can get her help.

Satisfied with my plan, I desend the tree.

Only to have a branch snap when I was eight from the ground.

"Son of a b-!"

I hit the ground.

"David!" I hear Luo shout."Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Not the first time that has happened..."

"What does that mean?"

"Hey!"

Without warning, Sean comes into the clearing.

"Find anything?" We ask at the same time.

"Actually, yes. I found a town."

...

"Wut?"

"A town. I was trying not to be seen, but one of the ponies there saw my anyway. Instead of attacking me, they welcomed me."

"Why would they do that?" Luo asks.

"No clue. The town seems fine. The only thing that rubs me the wrong way is that none of the ponies there have cutie marks."

"...no cutie marks? That doesn't make sense."

"I know."

"Is it possible that their changelings?"

"No, I sensed there emotions. Changelings can sense other changelings emotions, but there not as strong as pony emotions. These were no doubt ponies."

"Weird..." Luo says to no one in particular.

"I have a different place we could go. When I first got here, I spent my first two weeks in a abandoned castle out here. That castle is that way,"I point in the direction of the castle," but it's a long way away, a few miles at least. How far is the town?"

"That way, not far at all." He points in the opposite direction.

"I think we should go to the town. If the ponies there are nice to us, we could stay there for a bit. Atleast until Luo's leg heals." Sean states.

"I don't know, I think the castle is a better idea. If it's where David slept, he must know the area there." Luo states.

They both look to me.

Well shit.


----("I agree with Luo, let's go to the castle.")----("I agree with Sean, let's go to the town.")----

> Chapter 10 - Bad News
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


----("I agree with Luo, let's go to the castle.")----("I agree with Sean, let's go to the town.")----


"I agree with Luo, let's head to the castle."

"Really? I think the town is a better option for us."

"The way you described it made it sound hella sketchy. It just rubs me the wrong way, and I think the castle is a better option. Plus, having some familiar ground to work with will be good for us, AND I know how to get to Canterlot from there. We can get on the edge of these woods, and walk along the edge of them until we find the base camp where Shining should be."

"But if you're with the guards, shouldn't Shining be looking for you out here?"

"Yes, but I bet they have a way to talk to each other through their magic. If we show up, and he's not there, they'll probably tell Shining that I'm okay."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Nope, but it's the best we got."

"Why not just go to the town?"

"Because it's sketchy as fuck, like I just said. No way I'm going there."

"Luo, you need to heal. And that means rest."

"And I will, but I'm not going to that town. If what David said is true, going to the castle is better."

Sean, seeing he was outnumbered two to one, gives in. "Okay... we'll go to the castle."

"We should get moving then. It's a long walk there, and we still don't know what's out here." I announce.

Nodding their heads in agreement, we all start walking to the ruins of the castle.

But what we didn't see, were the eyes watching us as we departed.





We reach the castle with a little daylight left, which is good as well as bad. Good because we have some light to work with, and bad because we don't have that much left, and I don't know if anything as come by and made a home since I was here.

I walk up the small set of stairs that leads up to the front door. It's been a long ass time since I was here. I wonder if anything has changed in the past two and a half months.

Once we're all at the doors, I push them open as quietly as I can.

"Why are you being so careful? I thought you said you lived here before." Sean asked me.

"Because its been almost, if not already, three months since i've been here. There's a chance that something else could've made a home here while I was gone."

"... I now realize that was a stupid question."

You think?

Finishing that thought, I push the doors open enough that I can peek inside.

Not surprising, the stairs are still missing.

But what IS surprising, is that my vine that I put at the top of the wall that used to have the stairs is still there.

"Well damn, my vine is still here."

"Your vine?"

"That vine you see right there? I tied it to the top when I first got here so I could scale the wall easier."

"How did you climb at first?"

"I just normally climbed up with my pick, but since it's been awhile since I've been here, and I don't know how strong that vine is now, I don't really think I sh-"

"Are you kidding? That bug didn't have a chance to begin with."

That wasn't Luo or Sean... 

I immediately crouched down and signaled for Luo and Sean do be quiet as I listened in on the hunter's conversation.

"I dunno. Seemed like it had some fight left in it."

"They always end up dead anyway."

"True... hey, what do you think happened to that weird one we saw?"

"The one on two legs? No clue. If that timber wolf ate him, I would be sad that we didn't get the pleasure of doing it ourselves."

Wow. Sick fucks...

I motion Sean and Luo closer to me to avoid talking too loud.

"Okay, new plan. We get the hell out of here."

"What? We need this place to rest." Luo argued.

"Just because we hear two of them doesn't mean there aren't anymore up there. It could be a whole camp."

"What do you suppose we do then?" Sean asks.

"I think the be-"

"HEY! THE WEIRD ONE'S HERE!"

Motherfu-

An arrow lands next to my foot. I can also hear commotion from up above. Probably the others getting their weapons.

Maybe coming here was a bad idea...

"Fuck! New plan! Run!" I shout as I raise my rifle and take a shot at the hunter that spotted us, which hits home.

"What the hell is it using!?" I hear a hunter yell as his buddy's head explodes in a mist of red.

"Just shoot the bastard!"

I run as fast as I can while reloading my rifle. I can hear the sound of arrows hitting the ground behind me.

Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit.

I open the front doors to the castle and stand there while Luo and Sean run through before closing it.

"That could've gone better..." Sean commented.

"We're not safe yet. We need to put as much distance between them and us as possible."

"What about this place? We need somewhere to rest!" Luo protests.

"Fuck this place! I'm not fighting who knows how many hunters just to spend the night here for a few days. We can find a cave or somewhere secure... actually I know exactly where we can go."

"Where's that?"

"There's a cave not far from here. The entrance is well hidden, so I doubt they know about it. It only has one entrance, so nothing could sneak up on us."

"How do you know about it?" Sean questions.

"Back when I was with Thorax, he spotted it when I was about to walk right past it. It's not far."

"Is it really a good idea? From what you say about it being close, won't the hunters here come looking for us?" Luo says concerned.

"Like I said, it's well hidden. There's only one entrance they can get in from, so if push does come to shove,  it's easily defendable."

Sean and Luo look at each other, before nodding their heads at me.

"It's a plan then."
> Chapter 11 - Back Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We need to be as quiet as shit. We can sneak our way back into the woods if we're careful." I say.

Luo and Sean both nod their heads, falling in behind me.

"Just stay close, and no attacking unless there's absolutely no other choice."

With that info being said, we begin to carefully sneak away from the hunter infested castle. Within a minute however, a large group of what looks like no less than 10 hunters come out of the castle.

"Spread out! Find the fuckers!"

I am so tempted to shoot him... but that would break my own rule, so I force myself not to.

With all the new hunters roaming around, it takes around five minutes to move a foot. They're everywhere... 

I see one approaching, but he doesn't notice us, due to a bush being in between me and him.

I take my knife out and flick the blade open as the hunter gets closer. Just when he's about to pass us, I make sure the lethal blade is facing him as I leap out of cover.

His eyes dart to me, but he doesn't get the chance to yell as the blade enters his neck in one swift motion. At the same time, my other hand clamps over his muzzle to prevent him from making any noise.

In a few seconds, he collapses to the ground unmoving.

I'm lucky that this was an earth pony. A unicorn, and maybe a pegasus, probably would've screwed me.

After a quick search of the body, which revealed nothing of value, I pull it in the bush to hide it from view. That will buy us some time.

"Well that's that." I say, more to myself than Luo or Sean. "Let's get out of here before any of them notice they're down one man."

With that being said, and the hunters clueless about what just happened, we enter the tree line and don't look back.





We're about ten minutes away from the castle now. It should be enough distance for the time being. However, I'm worried. Not because of the hunters though...

I've killed two ponies and I don't feel anything. That was my first time killing a living intelligent creature. Even if it's not a human, it's close enough to where I should feel at least something, right?

But nothing. I don't feel good about it, but I don't even bad about it either. 

I know they were assholes, but I killed a pony. Shouldn't I feel at least something?

"David? Are you okay?" 

I snap out of my trance and look at Luo.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing important. Let's just get to that cave. It should be just up ahead."

True to my word, it is. The same cave that Thorax and I rested in months ago. The vines have grown out more, but that doesn't matter, it'll just hide it more.

And what do you know... that chicken lizard fuck that Thorax killed is still here. The body's decayed, not surprising, it's been dead for a while. There're some chunks missing from its body here and there... that means something's been feeding off of this. Hopefully what ever it is, is long gone by now.

"What in the name of the queen is that?" Sean points to the lizard thing.

"THAT, is the creature that was living in this cave when Thorax and I found it months ago. He shot it after it put me out of  commission."

"What do you mean 'out of commission'?"

"It made me black out somehow. All it did was look at me... I probably should do some research on that when we get back to the empire. I would've done some before, but forgot about it."

Luo was by the entrance checking out the cave. "This IS pretty well hidden. We could stay here for a bit."

"And we will. At least until your leg gets to where you don't have to limp." Sean says.

"I guess we should go in." As I take the lead and take a few steps in, I notice something.

It's dark as shit.

"Could one of you use your magic to make a light source?"

"I got it." I hear Sean say. A moment later, the cave is lit in a soft green glow.

"Better..." Then I notice the small pond of water in the corner.

...wait...

*Dramatic Flash Back*

"I saw some kind of puddle over there." Thorax points to my left.

I turn my head and see what he's talking about. There is a little pond over by the wall of the cave. I can barely see it due to the lack of light.

"Yeah, that'll work."

I move over to the pond and remove my water bottle from my pack and was about to dip it in when I felt something hit my leg. I look down to find a small little pebble at my foot. I kick it back in the water and move to fill my bottle. Only to stop when I fell two somethings hit my leg. I look back and see two pebbles at my foot.

My mind is melting.

To confirm what I think is happening, I pick up one of the pebbles and drop it in the water. I grin when I see two pop out.

*End Of Dramatic Flash Back*

... this is the mirror pool... holy shit, I'm so glad I came here. I had completely forgotten about this thing.

What's even better, is that I think my 'Emergency Stash' is still here.

"Ooo, nice little pond. I could use a little water."

I instantly hold my arm out to stop Luo from jumping in the pond.

She seems confused that I just stopped her. "What?"

"I wouldn't do that."

"Why?"

I scan the ground and find a small rock. 

"Watch." I pick up said rock as toss it in the pond.

...

"What's su-" Luo stops talking as two rocks pop out.

Sean, who has been watching from the sidelines, stood there with a blank expression.

Luo, on the other hand, looked like her brain was melting. "...wa...?"

"The last thing we need is two of you."
> Chapter 12 - Shieeeeet
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After I stopped Luo from making two of herself, I checked my stash that I made when I was with Thorax. Everything's still here, my spare rifle, spare revolver, spare ammo, spare everything. I even copied my water bottle, which is as warm as a piece of shit now, but it's still water.

I'm checking over my supplies, making sure everything still works and deciding on what to take with me, and what to leave here for a next time, if there is going to be one. Better safe than sorry.

Luo and Sean are quietly talking to each other about who knows what, and I don't really care. As long as they aren't talking about me, i'm fine.

"Hey David?" Luo speaks up from her spot.

I look up from the ammo i'm counting to address Luo. "What?"

"Where did you come from?"

...Where the hell did that come from?

"What do you mean?"

"Where did you live before you came to Equestria?"

"...What makes you ask that?"

"...I...just figured that maybe... we get to know each other a little better?"

"...Why?"

"Well, we know next to nothing about you."

"And?"

"I'm... curious. Both of us are."

Hmm. On one hand, I'm not really that interested in talking right now about my life. At all. One the other hand, I'm bored...

Fuck it.

"...Fine... let's see... I live, or rather lived, on a planet called Earth, home to other humans just like me."

"How many humans?"

"Umm... 7.6 billion to my knowledge."

"WHAT!?" Both of them yell.

"Equestria's population doesn't even come CLOSE to that!"

"What is the population here anyway?"

"Oh... I don't know for sure, but I would guess around 20 million at least."

"...wow. I would've guessed more than that. That's not even close to my country's population."

"Which is?" Sean questions.

"I'm from a place called the United States of America, which is home to about 325 million people."

"Holy..."

"What else? What about your age?" Luo asks me.

What's with the personal questions? Well, where I lived is kinda a personal question, but age is more personal than that. The last time I was 'interrogated' like this, was when Twilight came back to the Crystal Empire to check on me and Thorax to see how we were doing after two weeks of living there. Twilight pulled me to the side during her visit to ask me stuff about humans. At first, the answer was no, but I gave in... for whatever reason.

That... that was an interesting day...

"I'm eighteen, turning nineteen soon."

"Wow. You look old for your age." Sean comments.

"...Excuse me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!"

...For the sake of your ass, you better not have.

"What about your family?"

...

"David? You okay?"

"I'm fine. I just... too personal of a question. What about you two?"

"What about us?"

"Well, I told you about me. Mind returning the favor and tell me about yourselves?"

"Uh, why not? I'm twenty-five, and Luo here is twenty."

"Huh. So, I'm the youngest out of us." Even though I act like the oldest... well older than Luo at least.

"Correct. Anyway, we both had our jobs in the hive. I worked in the nursery, where the newly born changelings are, and Sean worked as an infiltrator and scouter. They, as the name implies, scout out areas and infiltrate them to get love to bring back to the Hive."

"Interesting... did you two choose your jobs, or did you not have a choice?"

"We got to choose. Sean is a lot braver than me, and I just like the kids."

"Interesting... how about this, how did you two meet each other?"

"We met when we were kids. I snuck into Luo's living space when her parents were gone and she caught me."

"...Why did you sneak into her space?" I asked.

"Luo told you I was brave, and I was kind of stupid at the time too. I wanted the love that each changeling is given in their own spaces, since I had run out of my ration."

"...huh."

"Yeah... after that, we just started hanging out more."

"Okay... that's an interesting way to meet, I guess."

"Yep, it wa-" Luo was cut off when we heard a snapping sound from outside the cave.

"The hell was that?" Sean asked like one of us knew the answer.

"Let me check it out." I say as I stand up and pull my revolver out.

"Put the fire out. Whatever's out there could see it." Sean quickly starts on stomping out the fire, while I creep over to the entrance of the cave.

I lift my gun up as I move the vines and other shit out of the way of the entrance and peak around outside... nothing... there's no way it was nothing.

"Stay here, I'm going to go and have a look. Be ready to go if there is something."

I receive nods from both changelings as I carefully step out into the open and get low to the ground to become less visible. I start to carefully crouch walk to the direction I think the snap came from, listening carefully for another snap or anything to tell me where this thing is.

I reach a tree and peak around it to the spot I believe I heard the snap in the first place. Nothing. Well shit... wait. The leaves around here are disturbed. You can see where something walked through them. With that snap we just heard, that's not the most settling thing to find if I'm honest.

I'm about to investigate the leafs more closely to see if I can tell which direction, when I hear a snap right behind me.

I quickly move to the side as an arrow hits the tree where my head just was. I spin around and pull the trigger without hesitation at the hunter that was trying to load another shot. His head jerks back as he falls to the side.

Before I can think about anything else, I hear shouting in the distance.

"Over here! That had to be them!"

"Shieeeeet... Luo! Sean! Time to go!" I yell as I pick up the fallen hunter's crossbow and the quiver of bolts he had on his back.
> Chapter 13 - The Life Of One...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Where are we even going?!" Luo shout's from in front of me.

"No clue! Just keep moving!" I shout back to her, firing back at the hunters hot on our tail.

Arrows and magic are shooting past us every second. It's a good thing that these fuckers have the aim of stormtroopers. They can't aim for shit.

Well, neither can I right now. I'm taking shots at them every so often, but without time to properly aim, I miss as bad as they do. 

"You can't run forever!" One of the hunters shout.

"Just shut the fuck up already!" I kindly reply to him. He responded back with an bolt from his crossbow landing in a tree I pass by.

It seems like the shit has hit the fan pretty fast, huh?

"Guys! Turn left up here!" I yell to the two changelings in front of me. "It's denser there than here! We have a better chance of losing them!"

Without saying anything, the two changelings suddenly took a sharp turn left, me following closely behind.

"They're taking a left! Don't lose them!"

We run a few more seconds, then I pull both Luo and Sean to the side and down in the thick brush.

"We can't stay bunched up like this. It'll be better if we split for now."

"Where are we supposed to go?" Sean asked from beside.

"Just head East from here. Leave signs for us to follow, like a stick sticking up, or a pile of rocks. Something to let us know that you've been there and okay."

"I don't know if I can do this..." Luo said from her spot. Great.

"You can stay with Seam if you want, but I'm going alone. I'll hopefully see you both later."

With nods from the changelings, I break off from the pack in what I think is East... I'll find my bearings later. Right now, I just need to get out of this alive. Compared to the shit I went through back when it was just me and Thorax, I think I can do just that.

Think is the keyword there.

I take about 15 steps and turn to where I came from. Luo and Sean aren't there anymore. Whether they stayed together or split up, I don't know. I guess I'll find out later.

I look down at my recently acquired crossbow. Assuming video game logic is in play, I can get away with quite kills if need be. Let's see.... There's the bolt that's already in the thing... and there're 6 more bolts in the quiver. 7 bolts. I know I can count now.

Okay, back on track. I peak over the dense brush and scan my surroundings. Hunters are here, obviously. They're pretty spread out. It could make sneaking past them (or killing them) easier.

I start moving again, being mindful of keeping my head down.

"Hey! You see anything?!"

"No, it's thick as fuck here! Plus the sun's going down, so that's not helping either!"

"Just keep looking, they can't be far!"

I sneak another quick peak above the brush.

"One, two, three, four, five... six... seven, eight, nine... ten..."

There's fucking twelve hunters. Fantastic.

Just as I finish that thought, I hear hoofsteps coming toward me.

...

There's about to be eleven.





I pull my blade out of the hunter's neck as he falls limp. That makes five down, and opens up a clear path out of this area.

None of these hunters had a crossbow with them, which is surprising to me. You think with all these hunters and all those times I've been shot at by them, you would think that at least one of them would have one.

Whatever, It's not like I need two of them. More bolts would be nice, since I've used two of them already. One broke (somehow) and the other I didn't want to risk getting spotted trying to get it back, so I left it.

But I shouldn't have to worry about that too much. I need to move and find Sean and Luo, wherever the hell they are.

I crouch walk some more away from the hunters before fully standing up again. Damn, staying crouched for that long takes its toll on your legs. Especially if you're not used to doing it... I should start working out. I'm sure the Crystal Empire has a gym or something, and if It doesn't.... I'll figure something out. It's not that ha- wait a damn second.

I back pedal a few steps and see a pile of rocks. What's special about a pile of rocks? Nothing. But this pile of rocks is a special pile of rocks, because they're shaped in a circle.

According to my knowledge, that's not normal for rocks to do that. Sean or Luo, or both for that matter, must come through here. 

I'll find out soon I-

"Don't move asshole."

...well shit. It doesn't take much to figure out what's happening.

"Drop your shit. All of it."

I comply, not really having any other options.

"Don't do anything stupid. I'm sure you wouldn't want to die slowly." One of the hunters said with a laugh.

Wow, like actually fuck these guys.

"Get the boss over here."

...Boss? Great...

A few seconds later, a hunter steps forward. But what's different about this one, is that he has a necklace around his neck. A necklace that appears to made up of changeling horns.

"You can change back now." He speaks in a deep voice.

"Pardon?" I reply back, oddly calm for the deep shit I appear to be in.

"Your disguise?"

...My dis.... ooooooooooooohh....

"Don't have one."

"I'm sorry, you don't?"

"Nope."

He stares at me for a few seconds before nodding over to one of the other hunters, who proceeds to shoot me with a spell of some kind.

AND HOLY FUCK IT'S MAKING ME FEEL WEIRD!

Eventually, the effects of the spell wear off, and the hunters look at me in confusion.

"Wait, what? How do you still have your disguise on?"

"Maybe it's because I'm not a changeling and don't have one?"

"...Well, regardless of if you are one or not, you've been helping those fuckers. You've also killed some of my men. That doesn't fly well with me or any of us. So, here's what's going to happen..."

I was planning on paying attention to the bitch, but something caught my eye to my right. I swear that hunter just winked at me.

"Hey! Dipshit!" I look back at the leader of the group. "You might want to listen."

"Why can't we just kill him now?"

"Because he killed a lot of our guys. He doesn't des-"

"Boss!" A hunter said

"What!?"

"We found one the others!" A pair of hunters come out of the brush with Luo, a loaded crossbow pressed against her head.

"Why hello there." The leader says to Luo before turning his head to the rest of his group and nodding to Luo. He turned to address the hunter beside me. "Make sure he doesn't try anything. We're going to see what this one knows."

The hunter nods as the rest of them walk to Luo.

We sit in silence for a few moments before the hunter beside me speaks. "When I say now, find a weapon to fight with."

"What? What are y-"

I stop talking when the hunters eyes flash solid blue for a second.

Sean.

I nod to him and quickly scan the area around me for something to fight with. The best thing I see is a branch. I guess I can use that to get a better weapon from the hunters.

Sean walks by me and shouts at the hunters around Luo. "HEY!" He then charges his horn with a spell to fire. 

"NOW!"

I spring to my feet and grab the branch by me and immediately charge at the hunters. I swing the branch once I'm close enough and it connects with a hunter's head, causing him to go down. Before the other's can charge me, Sean fires a spell, which hits the ground near the others, causing a bright light to flash. Luo then jumped in and bucked a hunter in the ass. 

While they're causing their scene, I take my chance and dive for the hunter's knife. I manage to grab it, but by this time, he's recovered and grabbed it too. We're now engaged in a retard fight. Why do I called it that? Take a guess... It's not hard.

I soon manage to get the upper hand on him and slam his hoof against a nearby rock, causing him to release his hold of the knife. I act fast and use my upper hand to thrust the knife into the hunters head. He immediately freezes and goes limp.

Now that that's taken care of-

"David!"

Oh for fucks sake.

I look up and Sean's fighting at least 4 hunters at once.

And he's losing.

"I could use some help!" He shouts to me.

I'm about to rush over to him, but something else catches my eye.

A hunter is running straight for Luo, who is busy fighting her own hunter. She doesn't know he's rushing her.

I glance at a crossbow that belonged to the hunter I just killed. I pick it up and I'm about to aim for the hunter rushing Luo, when I see a hunter aiming another crossbow. This one however, is pointed in Sean's direction, who is too busy to notice.

Fuck...

I only have one shot, and I can't help them both.

I fire at Luo's hunter, Sean will most likely die.

I fire at Sean's hunter, Luo will most likely die.

Damn, they aren't making this easy.


----(Help Sean)----(Help Luo)----

> Chapter 14 - ...At The Cost Of Another
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


----(Help Sean)----(Help Luo)----


I think with the second I have to spare, and after that, I point the crossbow at the hunter rushing Luo and pull the trigger, sending the bolt at them. 

And it hits home.

Luo bucks a hunter in the face and turns to look at the body of the hunter that was charging at her not even 5 seconds ago, and then looks at me.

"Go! I'm right behind you!"

Luo hesitates for a moment, before bolting into the thick tress of the Everfree.

I glance back at Sean's hunter and try to warn them. "Sean! Look out!"

But it does nothing as the hunter fires.

The bolt enters the back of Sean's head as he turns to look at me. He freezes for a second, just staring at me with his mouth gaping open, before slowly falling on his side, breathing no more.

"SEAN!"

My yell draws the remaining hunters to me. "Get him!" One of them calls out.

And you know what my reply was to that?

Turning, and running as if I was Sonic. Of course, I snatched some extra bolts from a fallen hunter, before bolting into the trees ahead.





After about a good 20 or 30 minutes of one the most fucked up games of hide and seek ever played, I manage to shake the hunters off my tail. That's the good news. The bad? They still have pretty much all of my shit. The only shit I still have is a crossbow, which I have eight bolts for, and a knife that I acquired from that one hunter. They have all my guns and my supplies.

So... what the fuck do I do now? My chances of finding Luo now are slim to none... and Sean is dead. I didn't know him for that long at all, but I highly doubt he deserved to die like that... I need to find out where I am, but without my pick to help me climb, that may be a bit difficult. 

But ya know what? Fuck it.

I look around for a tall tree with a low branch and begin my ascent. Once at the top, I take a good look at my surroundings, and notice three things.

One was the castle that I originally stayed at during my first days here in Equestria. The other two, however, are pillars of smoke.

Now, there're two others, so... one might be Shinning and the others, one might be a hunter camp or something. They could BOTH be hunter camps for all I know. There's no way to know for sure.

What to do, what to do... I guess I'll just pick one. There's no way i'm going back to the castle.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... that one.

After randomly picking a smoke column to approach, I slowly start my descent back down, being extra careful as I did so. Going down is harder than going up sometimes, But as I approach the bottom and start to relax, you wanna know what happened?

You guessed it, the branch broke...and I fell on my ass, nothing new.

At least it wasn't a big drop... my ass still hurts tho, but nothing I can do about that. I, thankfully, didn't land on my leg. That's already been shot, I don't need it broken either.

Alright, moving on. Smoke, now.





By the time the trees open up enough to allow me to view my progress, I discover that the sun doesn't look like it has much time left in the sky. That means I've been walking for a decent amount of time already, and luckily, the smoke has grown closer. It shouldn't be that much further of a walk, hopefully I ca-

"I don't remember it taking this long to walk back to camp."

"Shut up. You know we don't usually come this way."

And are you fucking kidding me?

"Shit..." I crouch low to the ground, crossbow at the ready, and listen to the voices.

"Just try to make conversation. Don't go and get mad at me."

"I said shut up."

"Or what?"

Oh my fuck, this is stupid... 

I peak up, and see the two of them. Only two. And apparently, they're too retarded to be paying attention to their surroundings. Not that I'm complaining... 

They're heading the same direction it looks like, which only confirms my suspicion of it being a hunter camp, but I still can't know for sure... I glance down at my crossbow.

Only one way to find out.

With the two of them approaching me, I pull out the knife I have and wait. Once they passed me, I made my move. I jumped from my cover, driving the knife into the hunter's neck that was closest to me, and immediately point the crossbow at the other before he could raise his.

"Drop it." I order.

Complying, he does so. His ears going down. I guess he's not in the mood to get shot.

"Good, now, I've give you a chance so you don't end up like your buddy here," I gesture to the now dead hunter at my feet. "I saw a column of smoke a little ways back, and couldn't help but overhear you talking about your camp while heading in the same direction. Is that smoke your camp?" I nod to the smoke through the trees.

"W-what if it is?"

Wow, this one actually sounds scared. Wasn't expecting that from a hunter... assuming he's not faking it. "I may or may not pay it a visit, but that didn't answer my question."

He remained silent. Alright.

I quickly rush him and kick him to the ground, pointing the crossbow directly between his eyes. "I won't ask again." I say in a low, threatening voice.

"Alright! It is. Happy?"

"Not really, but info helps."

"... um.... what now?"

I pull the trigger, sending the bolt clean through his head.

"That's what."

With my newly acquired information, I proceed after retrieving the knife and bolt from the dead hunters.
> Chapter 15 - Stalker
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After that little encounter with the two retards, I continue on my way, pulling the string of the crossbow back and placing a bolt firmly in place. That went smoother than I thought it would... well, it didn't really go smoothly at all. Not for them at least.

The hunters themsevles didn't have that much useful stuff on them beside more bolts, but with me already having eight, I figured I had enough. Plus I can always retirve the bolts once I fire them, assuming I don't fire them at a brick wall and snap them.

They did, however, have a small hatchet in one of their saddlebags, and of course, I took that. Why wouldn't I? The only downside is that since I don't have my backpack with me, carrying too much stuff is... well, I would say hard, but it's more awkward than anything. Although I could hold the crossbow with one hand and the hatchet with the other, what happens when I have to fire that shot? I'll tell you what would happen, I'd come down with a serious case of dead. I could reload with one hand, but two hands is faster. Of course, that's common sense. 

Why am I taking so much time talking about how to carry shit? Long story short, I still took the hatchet like I said and slid the handle of it between my belt and my pants. It fit and is more comfortable than I thought it would be. Now I just have to be carful and not cut myself on the exposed blade. It looks worn, but it easily is still very sharp.

Looking forward from my newly acquired hatchet, my eyes scan the surrounding forrest around me. I have to be getting close to that camp. I've been walking for what feels like forever already. The canopy above me has grown thick as I've walked, casting my surroundings in heavy shadows. It also prevents me from seeing how much progress I've made to my destination. Hell, knowing my luck, I could be going in the complete wrong direction. I highly doubt I am, but still, it would be my luck.

About another... ten or so minutes I could see a soft glow coming from the trees ahead. "Thats gotta be it..." I mumble to myself. I am not a patient man, as I believe I've said before, so I'm looking forward to getting to that camp... even if its full of ponies that want me dead.

I get to what I believe is a good point to scan the camp and crouch down by a tree. (I know, a tree? They would never suspect that.) 

Upon looking ahead... yep, that's definitely it. There's about 3 old buildings up ahead, no clue they could've been used for. They look like they are, er-, they were just little cozy cabins. They don't look that worn down, but you can tell that there was a large decent time period where nothing was living here. On top of this, there were several tents set up around those buildings. Presumably, they sleep in both places. The entire area is cast in the same soft, orange glow, the canopy above still very thick. Keeps them hidden from anything flying above, smart.

The camp still seems to be mostly empty, the outside area deserted, but I cannot seem anything inside the tents around, nor inside the houses.

I glance back behind me, staring into the darkened woods, before looking back at the camp, considering my options. Since the camp looks empty, it would be easier to search around, see if I can find anything around here. On the downside, if I'm searching around, and a lot of those bastards come back at once, my chances go from being probably fine to probably fucked... 

After a moment in thought, I say my famous line.

"Fuck it." 

I stay low to the ground, starting to creep toward the camp. "You're the last one left, complete the mission..."

There's no reason for me to check the tents... actually, I take that back. My first spot to check was going to be the house, just behind the tent. What can go wrong? 

A lot, but let's push that thought aside for just a second.

I reach the tent and find the flap already half opened, allowing me to peak inside. Nothing useful. Two sleeping bags and a lantern, currently turned off. Even though it is dark, there is enough light around this camp to provide for me, so I leave the lantern.

Now, the cabin. The tent is pitched literary right next to the cabins backdoor. I approach it, stepping up the small three steps to that door and wrap my hand around the knob.

"Surely it can't be that...easy?" To my surprise, the door knob gave no resistance, turning until I heard a small click and the door slightly holy forward. "...These guys seem too cocky if they just leave these door unlocked... or maybe the locks don't even work anymore."

I push the door open, peaking inside and glancing around. The inside is void of any hunters, good news for me. It's only a single story as well, so I don't have to worry about a second floor. I creep inside, softly closing the door behind before standing back up to my full height. "Let's see what we have..."

The cabin was dark, no lights of any kind inside. The only light being what comes from the outside lanterns. At least this way, they can't see my shadow in this cabin. I don't even know where they got all this stuff from in the first place, It couldn't have been all found in these woods, some of the equipment doesn't look old at all. 

As I slowly walk across the floor, I approach a table with a variety of papers and books on it, nothing really worth... wait...

I set my crossbow off to the side on the same table and go to shifting the junk around. I soon discover a larger piece of paper underneath everything else. My eyes widened as I realized what it was.

"A map! Fuck yeah!" I quietly celebrate as I begin to study it.

"Changelings spotted here... 'Taken care of' here... Royal Guard camp? How long have they been watching us...?" I feel a breeze blow through my hair as I quickly glance out the window and back at the map. "This map shows their camps, our camps, Changeling sightings... this has everything..." My eyes drift to a notepad I brushed aside when first uncovering the map. I pick up the pad and start skimming the notes written. Most of the notes detail supply trading between camps, but I did see something that caught my attention. "'Changeling brought in after our scouting team was attacked. Taken to the cellar, maybe we can finally get some answers to more changelings to take care of. Been slow the last week'... wait, this is dated today."

If this is dated today... Is it talking about me, Luo, and Sean? I need to see if I can find that cellar it talks-

My thoughts grind to a halt as I hear commotion outside. I rush to the window and look through the cracks. I see a group of... about 10 of those fuckers walking into camp. Three of which are coming right for my house. I back away from the window, fanatically looking for a place to hide. "Shit, shit shit..." My eyes scan to a closet.

"Fuckin... as cliché as it is, I got nothing else." I rush to the closet and open the door. The closet was completely empty, making it very easy for me to squeeze inside. Once inside, I close the door and peak through a very small gap. Only then did I realize I left the map uncovered and my crossbow on the table. "Shit..." I swear, as it's all I can do as the backdoor opens, and in the hunters came.