> Banished
>  by Sixpence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Fall from grace
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The grey jagged landscape stretches out in every direction from where I stand. It has been so long, I vaguely remember vast stretches of green, forests that stretched from horizon to horizon.

But that was long ago. Now I call this land my home. I’m not sure why I decided to settle in this desolate place, but it called to me.

The land has nothing to offer, nothing but grey twigs and staunch growths cling to the mountainous landscape. Almost nothing grows here but what I’ve been able to plant and cultivate.

I don’t surely know why I was brought to this world. In my travels I have seen no signs of civilisation, no current ones at least. I’ve waded through the ashes of cities so vast that it took me days to traverse them.

The skeletons of the creatures that inhabited them have long since been turned to dust. Yet partially preserved murals and paintings on walls have told me but one thing. I am not on earth anymore.

The creatures that inhabited the plains and cities I have walked among were not human. I have seen murals of creatures that could only have been wyverns. To think that a civilisation of wyverns once thrived here is beyond comprehension.

Yet I am not alone. I have seen creatures in the skies, nothing but glimpses of what could be anything. I think I saw a pegasus once, but the motion in itself was ridiculous. It was too small to fit the myth, and I was not close enough to discern anything but a silhouette before it flew off.

There were paintings depicting horses living almost as humans did on earth before I... left. Horses, majestic creatures in themselves, forming civilisations and living in cities. It made me wonder what would have happened if humanity had not ‘interrupted’ the flow of evolution.

Maybe this is earth. Just millennia after humanity? Some things I have seen might show that this is so. Certain items, like cracked pottery with handles and such tell me that at least something with hands once inhabited this world. Yet I cannot be sure.

Then again, I have not explored all this world has to give yet. And I have the time. Somehow I have not aged since I so elegantly dug myself out of what could only be a shallow grave.

I have glimpses of memory from my life on Earth. General things, like cities and some history. I cannot remember my name, and I have had no reason to name myself. My only conversations are with myself in reflective pools of water. I might be slightly insane. Perhaps, it is only natural.

A rock crunched beneath my bare foot, and I winced as I felt its jagged edge pierce my flesh. Pain flared for a bare moment before I feel the skin stretch and close, leaving nothing but another pale scar among more of its kin that have faded over time.

The air was moist, and I could smell rain in the air. I put a bit more weight on my staff, or walking stick as some might have called it, and started making my way home.

Over the last few years I have built myself a home, a shelter against the harsh weather of the wastes. It was nothing more than a crude wall in the mouth of a cave, but it provided respite from the wind and rain.

As I walked down the rocky slope, I heard the roar of some predator stalking the hills for what ever unfortunate prey it might fall upon. They avoided me, after a while they learned that some creatures are not to be preyed upon. My staff has served me well.

The staff is a relic I suppose. I found it in a chamber beneath what could only have been a temple devoted to the sun. One end was a matte gold, the color of the sun, the other is dark as the night. What it was made of eluded me, but it didn’t dent or bend under strain. Without it I would still be trapped beneath a rock slide. Each side is engraved with a yin-yang symbol of the sun and moon.

It glows in the dark if I wish it, and shadow in the light. How that works is beyond me, magic perhaps. Which is ridiculous, but I cannot explain it any other way. Humanity has always labeled things they do not understand as the work of Gods, or witchcraft. So close enough.

As I neared my home, I heard a curious whistling sound in the air. Then the shockwave hit me, nearly blowing me over with its force. It carried with it dust and detrious, and my eyes stung as I tried to cover my face with an arm. It vanished as fast as it had come. With a shiver I brushed the dust from my arm and looked towards the horizon for a clue of its source.

It must have been vast to travel such a distance, for I could not for the life of me see the epicentre.

When it passed, the wastes were silent but for the whistling sound that only grew in volume. I glanced up, only to see a black speck in the air grow closer and closer. I yelped in fright and sought cover behind a boulder as the object only grew, its trajectory carrying it towards my location.

I cowered behind the rock for perhaps a scant minute before I heard the object impact the ground not far from me. It landed with a terrible crunching sound, and I heard it slide against the ground before coming to a halt with a wet squelch.

Fearing what I might find I slowly crept out from my hiding place, staff in hand, ready to pounce on whatever might have landed. I feared a bomb at first, but nothing I had seen had indicated that kind of technology, and the sound it made on impact lessened my fear of such a device.
When I reached the edge of my hiding spot, I gathered my courage and jumped out. What I saw nearly made me empty my bowels. On the ground before me lay a creature. It looked to be quadrupedal, but one of its legs lay a good five meters from its body.

I gagged when I saw it. Around it a pool of an almost luminescent green fluid was growing. Blood. It was bleeding heavily. I slowly made my way closer, and noticed that the creature was slightly insectoid. Its carapace was heavily cracked, and the remains of thin membranous wings stood out at a horrible angle from its back.

As I made my way around it, I noted its slightly equine figure. But the creature had a horn poking from its forehead, and a thin reedy mane framed a gaunt equine face. Its eyes were closed, and I could see broken fangs protruding from its muzzle.

I could see that it had once been a proud creature, its features spoke of a majesty marred by the damage it had been dealt by the impact. Blood was slowly leaking from its nose, eyes and muzzle. The horn itself was jagged and cracked, and the blood leaking from it seemed more luminous than what came out of the rest of its body.

My face scrunched up in sympathy. The creature might have looked monstrous to some, but to me it looked pitiful.

I reached out a hand to brush a lock of the matted greenish mane from its face. Upon my touch its eyes sprang open, causing me to yelp and retreat.

The eyes were green and slitted, like that of a cat, or demon. It pulled in a ragged breath and focused on me. Its muzzle moved as it tried to drag in another wheezy breath. I could see its chest slowly rising and falling.

Then it spoke.

“H-help m-me....” Then it closed its eyes, and fell limp once again.
---

I was stunned. The creature before me had spoken. I had not heard words in what felt like an eternity. I had not talked to anything in decades, and it made a surge of intense longing surge through me, as well as an intense need to see this creature well.

I carefully ran my hands over its body, feeling the cracks and lacerations on its body. It was badly damaged. And several plates of its carapace were soft where I could only imagine that they were once hard. The jagged stump where its leg had once been flowed with blood, and I did the only thing I could and ripped the sleeve of my ragged shirt off and tied it around the stump.

With a stick I managed to make a crude tourniquet, and stop the flow of blood. 

The creature was large, not larger than me, and its body looked rather light. With the cloak I had fashioned from pieces of cloth and my staff I managed to fashion a makeshift stretcher, and with a lot of effort and care I managed to roll the creature over onto it.

I winced as I saw the other side of the creature. It was scratched and bloody, large pieces of its carapace had been torn away, showing me the pale sickly flesh beneath. Luckily it seemed to have a second covering of flesh, and none of its organs were visible.

It made me gag once more, and I tore off my shirt and covered it. I had to get back to my hollow before night fell if this creature were to have even the slightest chance of survival.

The nights were deathly cold, and the creature would be lucky to even live for another hour out here. Even without some predator finding it and turning it into an easy meal.

With its severed leg gruesomely tucked into my satchel I dragged the poor creature with me to my home.
---

I slowly lowered the injured creature onto my cot. It was not much, but it would keep it off the ground and allow me easier access to its wounds.

The only sign of life was the slow rise and fall of its grievously marred chest. I could hear gurgling each time it drew a breath, which was never a good sign.

Due to whatever graced me with my seeming inability to be permanently hurt, I had never learned how to properly dress a wound. Neither did I have any herbs or anything else that would accelerate the healing process or stop a bleeding wound.

All I could do was tear what little clothing I had left into strips and boil them before tying them around the creatures wounds.

I cleaned the blood from it as well as I could, and I soon had a small pile of rock and detritus lying beside the bed, all collected from the horrible wounds. I could do nothing for the bubbling in its chest, and once in a while releasing the tourniquet so that the blood wouldn’t collect in the stump.

After doing my best to bandage the creature I sat down before it, the severed leg lying in my lap. It seemed to be mostly intact, but I had no real idea what to do with it.

I absentmindedly stroked it, a rather morbid gesture, but I didn’t dare examine the creature itself too much in fear of harming it. The leg itself was a strange thing, it was hard and chitinous, but it had a covering of very short felt-like hairs, as well as several perforations or holes that went straight through them. The inside of the holes were as smooth as the outside, and the underside of the foot, or hoof was softer than the rest.

I put the leg down as the creature let out a cough, splashing more green blood over the crude bed. Suddenly it was wracked with coughs, and it seemed to agitate the wounds more and more, and soon the makeshift bandages were soaked through.

With care I replaced the strips of cloth with new, clean ones and set to cleaning the dirty ones.

Night fell, and there was nothing more I could do to make sure the creature survived the night. All I could do was to lean up against the cave wall beside the cot and try to get some sleep.
---
> Chapter 2: Life and Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been around for a while now. I stopped counting the days after the first two years, but I assume that it has been at least forty or so since I woke up covered in six feet of moist earth.

Claustrophobia was never something that had bothered me before, but there was just something about the world pressing in on all sides, the lack of air and total constriction that still makes me shiver to this day. 

It took me the better part of two days to get to the surface, two days of feeling suffocated and crushed. Breathing turned out to be a habit, not a need.

I pondered, after the panic attack had subsided and I got out of the earth, if I had become undead. A creature dead, but somehow alive, craving the flesh of the living. Perhaps a vampire?

The thoughts quickly subsided as I neither felt any hunger for living flesh, and I noticed a distinct lack of burning to ashes under the sweltering sun.

I had woken beneath a great plain of rolling grass that stretched as far as the eye could see. The only landmark was a dark line on the horizon.

For days I walked towards what turned out to be a great forest. My skin neither cracked nor burned under the sun, and even though I found the shade of the massive trees refreshing, my skin was a pristine white still. Almost bleached I remember thinking.

Maybe I was a daywalker? I chuckled at the idea as I leant against the gnarled trunk of what could only be an ancient redwood.

The forest was lush and alive with birds and the chattering of squirrels, and the mossy undergrowth was pleasant beneath my bare feet.

I think I walked for about a week before I stumbled upon the first ruins. My toe had struck something hard beneath the moss, and I crashed head first into what could have been a living room once upon a time.

The ruins were nothing more than crumbled walls and the outline of what could once have been a massive city, now governed only by the trees that were its only citizens.

I explored the ruins of the overgrown city for days, hoping to find anything that would point me towards people. Not once did I feel the need for food or water.

As I rested in what I assumed had once been the capitol building, I heard rustling outside. The sound of footsteps on the ancient cobblestones that still poked through the roots and moss that grew everywhere.

Carefully I wormed my way to the doorway, or the opening in the crumbling walls that I assumed had once been a doorway.

Outside were nothing but a herd of grazing deer, and I let out a sigh of relief, and disappointment. I had hoped it might be people, adventurers maybe. Even bandits would have made for decent conversation.

I rose from my prone position and tried to get a better look without spooking the deer. But once I put my hand on the wall to support me, it collapsed with a massive cacophony of falling stones and breaking wood. The wall dragged an old oak with it as it fell, and once the dust had cleared, the deer were gone.
---

A wet cough roused me from my slumber, and I looked over from my uncomfortable position against the rocky wall of my ‘abode’ to find the creature I had saved from certain death looking at me warily with its eyes narrowed in suspicion.

I suppose that the fact that I still held its severed leg in my lap didn’t help matters. It coughed again, this time its entire body was wracked with contractions, and I feared that it might cough up a lung.

Carefully I put the leg on the floor and rose to a crouched position beside the cot. Once the horrible cough subsided, the creatures eyes were closed, and I could see tears staining its eyes as well as a thin line of green blood seeping from its mouth.

I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy course through me, and I placed a hand gently on the creature’s neck, gently petting it in hopes of calming it down.

The creature shied away from my touch, almost as if it burned her. And I could hear a low growl emanating from its throat.

“Shh shh. It’s going to be alright.” My throat was sore, and my voice cracked as I used it for the first time in what must have been years. It certainly didn’t sound as comforting as I wanted it to be.

“You’ve suffered great wounds. Relax. I’m trying to help you.” I croaked out, my voice was gravelly and speaking felt like trying to press water through a broken hose filled with rocks.

“N-no.” It tried to shuffle away from my hand, but its wounds restricted it from moving much before it let out a muffled shriek when one of its legs bent in an unnatural direction, letting out a terrible cracking sound.

I quickly grasped the leg, and without mercy I pulled and put it back in its original setting. The creature screamed and tried to squirm away when the bone cracked back in place.

“Be still!” I growled, and the creature tensed, but stopped its squirming. “I’m not going to be able to help you if you’re moving so much.” My throat was slowly clearing, almost as if the cobwebs were releasing their hold as moisture once again flowed over it.

“W-why...” It started. The voice was feminine, it had a mature tone to it, and even in its wounded state it sounded almost sensual.

I shivered. I hadn’t heard the voice of a human being, or any being for that sake, for a very long time. And the feminine quality to it didn’t help.

“You were hurt.” I mumbled. “I couldn’t just let you lie there and become an easy meal for some vulture...”

“W-why...” She, I decided then to call the creature a she. At least she sounded female, but I couldn’t be sure, it just felt rude to think of her as an it.

“I told you. I couldn’t just let you lie there.” I averted my eyes, my gaze falling on the severed leg. “You would have died.”

She sobbed then, and I could feel my heart break at the sound. She sounded so fragile, even though her visage was... hideous in her current state, I couldn’t help but feel pity for this strange creature that had fallen almost on my doorstep.

“W-why c-could you not h-have let me die...” The question tore even harder at my heart, and I looked up and into her tearstained green eyes.

I put a hand back on her neck, and she flinched, but didn’t pull away. “Why?” It was my turn to ask.

Her eyes hardened for a moment before she looked away. “I failed.”

“Failed what?”

“My people. My subjects. I... I failed them all.” Her voice quivered, and another sob wracked her body.

Her subjects? My mind reeled. This creature was royalty? I was dumbfounded, and almost yanked my hand away in surprise, but I caught myself at the last minute and let my hand rest on her withers.

She continued to cry silently as I slowly began petting her neck once again.

“It’s going to be alright.” It was all I could find in myself to say.

Her eyes closed tight and she turned even further from my face. She let her head fall once more to the crude pillow beneath her head, now crusted with a layer of nearly dried green blood.

“T-they are all dead.” I heard her whisper, more to herself than to me, and I winced.

“I’m... sorry.” I murmured back. “I didn’t...”

The creature chuckled morbidly, and the motion made her cough up another glob of green luminescent blood.

“O-of course you didn’t know...” She sighed, her sobs had almost stopped, and I felt her body slump beneath my hand. Her breath didn’t stop going out, and it almost felt as if she deflated beneath my hand.

She didn’t breathe in.

A surge of cold dread coursed through me as the creature stopped breathing, and I felt the slow but steady heartbeat beneath my hand fade.

“No!” I shouted and jumped to my feet. I quickly turned her body over on its side and pressed my ear to the carapace covering her chest. No heartbeat.

Hurriedly I began administering the little I knew of first aid. I cupped my hands over her limp muzzle and,ignoring the foul taste of the green ichor making its way into my mouth, blew air softly into her lungs.

Over the next few minutes I alternated between blowing air into her lungs and compressing her chest. I didn’t even know if her heart was in her chest.

It did nothing. I have never felt as helpless as I did then, teary eyed and snotty. I felt pathetic as I could almost feel the life seep out of her.

After what I guess could have been thirty minutes I gave up and collapsed on her chest, sobbing my eyes out and feeling emotionally exhausted.

I’m not sure what happened, or how, but when I woke up I lay in the bed, cradling the body of the creature I had so miserably failed to save against my chest. 

I felt cold. The fire was still crackling merrily, and I could feel the heat of it against my back, but still I shivered. It felt almost as if my body had been drained, and it was getting colder.

The only parts of me that were warm were my hands. It almost felt like they were burning, and when I raised one of them before my face, a thin line of ethereal silver light ran from my palm to the creature’s chest.

But she was breathing. I could feel the steady rise and fall of the creature chest as she lay in my arms.

I slowly worked my way out of the bed, trying not to disturb her as I moved. Somehow she looked healthier. The slightly pale black carapace had grown darker, like skin that has been cut off from the bloodflow only for it to return.

The stump of her leg felt less jagged as I gently ran my hand over it, and I could no longer hear the gurgling in her lungs each time she breathed.

As I moved away, I could see the ethereal line connecting my hands to her chest fade, and I could feel warmth moving up my arms.

I sat there staring at my hands awestruck, and a bit fearful. Just what had happened? Did she do it? Did I?

I heard a groan from the cot, and the creature once more opened her eyes. They were clearer, more luminous in the dim firelight.

“I’m alive?” She asked in wonder, bringing her uninjured hoof up before her eyes. Her gaze fell slightly when she regaled the stump that had once been her left foreleg. “H-how?”

I just stared at her. The crusty rags that bound the worst of her injuries were dry, the blood on them old and darkening.

Her eyes moved to me as I sat there staring at her, and they narrowed in suspicion. “Why did you revive me?” She said, and I could hear the anguished anger in her tone. “Did I not make it clear that I do not wish to live?!”

She tried raising herself from the cot, but stumbled as she tried putting weight on a leg that was no longer there, and she crashed to the floor of the cave face first.

When she didn’t get up, I got worried, but she started shaking, laying there pitifully she began to sob once more.

“Why...” She murmured softly. “Why must I live...”

I sat down on the bed and pulled her up to my chest and stroked her greenish mane. She tried pushing away, but collapsed against me and pressed her face into my chest as she cried. 

I felt terrible. Here I was, a stupid little human, trying to save a creature I didn’t even know what was. Trying to comfort someone that had obviously lost everything and everyone she cared about. I felt hot tears roll down my own cheeks and into my scruffy beard as I gently stroked this strange creature, murmuring silent comforting words.
> Chapter 3: Who are you
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The nights on the plains were my favourite, when the sky was bare with not a cloud marring the giant canvas of bright spots and swirling galaxies.

When there was no sound but the wind rushing through the long grass, I felt at peace. Without any lights polluting the air it felt like I could float up into the abyss without regret, no worries, no fears. Just the stars and I.

The sky here is different. It was one of the first signs I noticed that I was no longer on earth. No big dipper, no Orion or Virgo. I was never a big fan of the night before I came here, the lights in the city made it almost impossible to see the stars, and I have vague memories of it always being cold.

So, since I didn’t know any constellation names, I started making up my own. The Hunter, it looked a bit like a bow and arrow. I remember having one, a bow I mean, one of the old fashioned ones, nothing but wood and string. I don’t think I hunted, or ever tried making one myself. The one I tried to make did do well for a fishing pole though. I followed it, every night I would see the tip of the arrow rise above the horizon, and know that it was my direction.

The Twin Fishmongers. Two wheels, an almost straight line and some stars made something that could be vaguely construed to be a cart with two fish. At least if I squinted and sort of looked away a bit. I used to be a fan of fish, I think. I haven’t felt the need for food or drink since I dug myself out. It’s strange, but I didn’t get thinner. Did build some muscle as well, I admit that it confused me at the time. I guess walking is good for you.

I think mom made great fish dishes.

I don’t remember her.

Or dad. I think I had a dad, everyone does.

The Stranger. It looked kind of like a crudely drawn stickman with a beard. Kinda like me, but I’m a bit more fleshy. After all I’m a stranger here.

I tried talking to the stars once. Some times I could swear they winked in response.

There were others. Like The Dragon, The Spire and The Four Horsemen.

When it rained, it was cold. Cold and wet, and often there was no shelter to be found. Still, I never truly froze. Even when icicles formed on my ragged shirt and beard, I never shivered or felt truly miserable.

Still pretty damned cold though.
---

She eventually tired herself out and fell asleep with her head still in my lap. I didn’t stop petting her mane until I fell asleep myself.

We both awoke at the sound of thunder. It couldn’t be any later than noon, but it was dark as night outside, and water was already running in small rivers down the slight slope.

The cave turned home was in the middle of a short hill, with a short outcropping of rock above the wall. It was perfect, as perfect as a cave could be. Water never ran inside, and it warmed up rather quickly once I stoked the fire and put a few more dry logs on it.

“So.” I started hesitantly. The creature had been silent ever since we woke up, and was staring melancholy into the fire. “What’s your name?” I found that calling her ‘the creature’ in my head felt a bit rude, even more rude than calling her ‘it’.

“Huh?” She grunted as she tore her eyes from the fire.

“Your name.” I smiled a bit wistfully at her. “I can’t just think of you as ‘the creature’” I wiggled my hands as air quotes “It feels rude.”

She looked a bit torn for a moment, almost as if she considered lying to me. “My name...”

“Yeah. You know, the thing people usually call each other in polite company.” I grinned, and I’m pretty sure I saw her lips twitch. Whether it was irritation or amusement I didn’t know, but it was something other than crying at least.

“People?” She said, and I saw a twinkle of interest in her eyes.

“People, folks, friends. You know, I’m people, you’re people. I think most sentient beings are people.” She looked a bit confused as I gestured towards her and me.

“Friends?” She rolled her eyes disdainfully. “Hardly.”

My smile fell a little and I turned back to the fire. “Well. I’m pretty sure we’re not enemies at least...” I felt a pang in my heart at her words. I had hoped that I might have found a friend at last.

“Now why would I be friends with the likes of you? I don’t even know what you are! For all I know, you could suddenly decide that I would look better hanging over that fire!” She said loudly.

I grit my teeth and grabbed my staff. In less than a second I had it pressed against her throat with a scowl on my face.

“Now you listen here you little twerp!” I roared. “I just saved your god damned life. So the least you could do is show a little gratitude.” I felt the anger coarse through my veins like fire, and the defiant scowl on the creature’s face made it flare.

Then she smiled, and her features softened as I pressed the staff into the nape of her neck.

“That’s more like it.” She said. “I think we might become friends after all.”

“What?” I yanked the staff away from her and looked down at her with an expression of mixed anger and confusion.

She stayed silent, with only that infuriating little smile on her face.

“Just what the hell do you mean by that?” I asked, the anger fading in the face of my growing confusion. “I show you mercy. Take you into my home, fix your damned wounds... But when I threaten you?” I pointed the staff back at her. “Just what is your problem lady?”

The weird part? Her eyes were glowing more strongly, and her carapace darkened even more as I felt the anger fade. Then she closed her eyes and sighed contently.

“No matter.” She said with a smile, her regrown fangs catching the firelight.

I felt confusion and frustration at the creature before me. What had I gotten myself into...

The staff clattered to the ground and I turned back to the fire once more. Women, no matter where you go they’re impossible to read.

“Chrysalis.” She murmured behind my back, and I turned my head.

“What?”

“My name, you may call me Chrysalis.” She was smiling smugly at me, almost as if she had won some argument, or a prize. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to the fire.

“Makes sense.” I murmured to myself.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Chrysalis said, laughter in her voice. This lady, this strange creature, had gone from crying miserably into my chest just hours before, to this arrogant... Well, whatever she was.

I turned and glared at her. “Not much. It’s fitting I suppose. You being what you are.”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “And what, may I ask, is that?” She sounded truly curious, but the smirk in her voice never left.

“Oh you know.” I smirked right back. “An insect.”

The cot creaked as she shot up on her one leg, only to lose her balance and crash back down onto the bed. “What!” She yelled. “Why I never!” She sounded furious, and I could only feel my grin grow wider as I looked at her squirming form on the bed.

“Yep. The carapace gave it away. Definitely an insect.” I was grinning from ear to ear by then.

She managed to prop herself up on her intact leg as she scowled furiously at me.

“I’ll have you know that I am a Changeling! Not!” She spluttered. “Not some petty insect!”

I just shrugged and kept my gaze on her eyes. “You don’t look much like a changeling to me.”

“And what, pray tell, is a changeling supposed to look like?” She asked me indignantly.

“A changeling is a small demon or fey creature that steals children and replaces it with their own spawn.” I shrugged again. “Looks nothing like you I reckon.”

“What? We haven’t done that for yea...” She clamped her mouth shut, and a look of embarrassment, of all things, passed over her features

It was my turn to arch an eyebrow at her. “Really now. Maybe you are a changeling after all.” My grin was still stretched over my face.

“No! I mean yes!” Her face flushed a bit red. How in the world that even worked was beyond me. 

“Fine!” She finally said. “And what is your name then? Fleshbag? Beardy?” Her smirk returned as my grin turned sour.

“I don’t have one.” I said softly and poked the fire with my hand. It didn’t burn.

“I’m sorry? I didn’t hear that.” She said and when I turned to glare at her, the smug look was back.

“I don’t have a name. Can’t remember if I ever had one.” I said and turned away. My mood had fallen severely.

“Fantastic! That means I get to name you!” I could hear the shit-eating grin through her voice, even if I didn’t look at her.

“Hell no you don’t!” I yelled at her and turned back once more.

“Oh come now. I can’t just call you... whatever are you anyway? I have never seen anything quite like you before.” She asked curiously.

Mood swings, if anything defined this lady, it was mood swings.

Me on the other hand, had to think for a moment before I answered. “Human, I suppose.”

“You suppose?” She laughed. “You’re not sure of your own species.”

I shrugged. “Last time I checked, humans die when crushed beneath a rockslide. Or when impaled on a branch. I didn’t”

I expected her to wince, instead she was silent and I turned to her. To my surprise she looked shocked, her eyes wide.

“What?” I spat. “Never seen an immortal before?”

“It can’t be...” She whispered, and a grin formed on her face.

“What?” I repeated, curiosity and confusion growing.

Chrysalis’ grin widened, and out of nowhere she started laughing loudly. Great guffaws wracked her body and she almost doubled over in mirth.

“What are you laughing at?” Once more my face tightened when the only sounds from her was half choked gasping laughs, almost indistinguishable from the sobs from earlier.

“Fine! Be that way!” I picked the staff back up and stalked out of the cave and into the pouring rain, slamming the ‘door’ behind me as I went.

I sat atop the rocky overhang of the cave, staring wistfully into the raging storm, almost grateful that only my pants were getting wet. I had no shirts left, they lay in rags on the floor inside.

“Human!” I heard someone yell from the doorway. “Now where did he go...”

I peered down from the edge of the overhang, and saw the changeling standing wobbly by the door, scanning the rain for any sign of me before hobbling outside into the rain as well.

For a moment I considered just letting her go. It would make my life easier, not having to deal with the snarky creature anymore. Surely the storm would get her. If not, surely some of the large cats stalking the desolate landscape would find use for her.

Instead I sighed and jumped down behind her. The impact made her squeal in surprise, and I rolled my eyes when she almost fell. “What do you want? You shouldn’t be outside...”

Chrysalis tried to blow away some of her now sopping wet mane. Much to her dismay, and my amusement, even more of her ragged mane fell into her eyes. She grimaced and looked up at me through the hair. “Listen. I’m sorry I laughed. That was rude of me.”

An apology? From her? What was she getting at.

“Can we get back inside? It’s cold out here...” To emphasize her point, she shivered involuntarily.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, before letting her lean against me as we went back inside.

At least some company is better than being alone.
---
> Chapter 4: Out the door
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fire.

Fire and chaos.

The smell of burning flesh lingered in the air around me like a haze of death.

I could hear screams of pain coming from the settlement around me. The wall had been breached, and the enemy was lighting everything in their path on fire.

The walls, once the village’s protection had become a cage. An oven.

I had been stationed on the wall when they came, howling like wild animals from the treeline.

We had torches along the outside of the wall. To scare away wildlife, to provide some light.

All it did was blind us to the utter darkness outside their range.

The Centurion on guard had fallen from the parapet with an arrow through his neck.

When they came, our century was in chaos without our leader. None of us were prepared, most of us auxiliaries posted as far away from the front as we could come.

We didn’t stand a chance.

I was thrown into a burning building by a giant of a man, his face and body covered in blue paint.

I tried to crawl out, but everything was fire.

My armor, my hair. I could feel my skin crumbling in the intense heat.

The building started to crumble around me. The ground shook as the heavy beams of what had once been a home hit the ground around me.

A groan from above was all I heard before I felt a pressure on my head, and the world went dark.

And I woke up in the fire in my cave, on another world. The smell of burnt hair permeated the air, and a grumpy changeling was sitting on my bed covering her nose.
---

“This is demeaning...” Chrysalis whined as I tightened the knots on the makeshift harness tying her to my back. “Why are we even doing this again?”

“Because” I grunted and shifted her a little further up “I’m not going to sit in this god forsaken wasteland if there is a civilisation out there.”

“Well. I’m perfectly fine with staying right here thank you very much.” I sighed and tightened another strap, making her squeak in surprise.

“I’m not. And I’m not going to let you die out here alone.” I said and picked up my staff. On one end I had tied the last piece of a shirt together into a bag with some food, some tinder and a piece of flint.

I felt the changeling slump against my back in defeat. “Fine. But why do I have to be in this stupid harness. I can walk.” Put her head on my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “What makes you think there’s anyone else out there anyway?”

I rolled my eyes and started out the door after putting out the fire. I glanced back once outside. It wasn’t the best of places, not even close, but it had been my home for the last year. I had gone to the trouble of trying to cultivate some plant-life around the base of the mountain, but I was never much of a gardener. Last night’s rain had pummeled what little was left, leaving nothing but half drowned, pitiful little plants that barely clung to life in the ditch I had grown for them.

“For one. You came from somewhere to the east. I have a hard time believing you’re the only sapient thing on this rock.” The weather was overcast, but the sun poked through in places, and even the jagged wastes looked majestic with the rays coming through the clouds. Like a deranged artists canvas. “Secondly. I’d like to get somewhere within the next few years... You’d only slow us down.”

Chrysalis didn’t say anything, and I glanced at her. She was just staring right ahead, seemingly lost in thought. She caught me looking at her and rolled her own eyes and looked at me. “What?”

“Nothing. You seem thoughtful. That’s new.” I smirked and turned forwards, taking the first step on our journey.

She batted me on my head with her hoof. “Very funny.” She deadpanned.

“So what’s on your mind?” Her eyes flickered away for a moment, before she resumed staring forwards.

“Oh nothing. Just thinking about what your name should be.” I could feel her grin, but I kept my eyes on the valley before us. Chrysalis was surprisingly light, but the harness chafed nonetheless, and my cargo was obviously deflecting an issue.

“I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with you giving me a name.” Truly, I didn’t mind all that much. But this woman, mare, changeling, had some strange ideas in her head when it came to names.

“How about... Scruffy. You are pretty scruffy.” I sighed, again.

“No.”

“Sticky.”

“What? No! Where did that come from?”

“You’ve got a stick. So, Sticky.”

“Oh, right. Still no. And it’s a staff, not a stick.”

“Stick, staff whatever.”

“There’s a difference!”

“If you say so,  Chuck.”

I stopped for a moment and looked at her. She was grinning, almost if my stop told her something.

“Chuck? Why Chuck of all things?” I asked, feeling rather curious. Chuck was a name that sometimes popped up in my memories of the old world.

“Well.” She tapped my staff. “I’m sure you could chuck this at something?”

I rolled my eyes and started walking again.

“How about... Pet?”

“No!”

And it continued like this as we walked through the muddy wastes.

---

After half a day the mountainous landscape opened up and revealed a valley that ran through the wastes like a gigantic scar in the ground. The valley itself was barren, even the scraggly trees of the wastes were absent. This was not a good place to be.

“Where are we?” Chrysalis asked from her perch on my back. “I can’t say I like the look of the place.”

By now my eyes were tired of being rolled, so I simply shrugged and walked over to the edge of the crevasse.

“Oh, this charming place?” I looked down into the foggy depths.

“I call it Fang Valley.”

Without waiting for a response I jumped over the edge. I heard Chrysalis draw in a breath to scream, but we landed on an outcropping not two meters below, and quickly clamped a hand over her muzzle.

She looked at me, her eyes wild and accusing, and I released her mouth. “Just what in Tartarus are you thinking?!” She yelled, and I clamped her muzzle shut once again. Her shrill voice echoed through the valley, and I heard answering screeches coming from below.

“Be quiet!” I hissed and glared at her, though my eyes betrayed my mirth and I removed my hand.

Her eyes darted around the valley below us, the pupils wide. “What was that?” She whispered.

“That, my dear changeling, was the reason I call this Fang Valley.” I smirked and dropped down to another ledge.

Chrysalis squeaked in surprise when the ground dropped out beneath us for another few meters. When we landed she batted me upon the head once more. “Would you give me some warning next time? Please? I’m not a fan of heights.”

“You have wings, how in the world can you be afraid of heights?” I looked up at her and moved forward to drop down another ledge. Only three more and the ground levelled out enough to walk the rest of the way down.

Chrysalis groaned and looked down over my shoulder. “We have a disagreement. Heights and I no longer get along. I’m sure you could figure out why.” She sounded downcast, and her eyes betrayed a deeper hurt than she was telling me.

“Right. I guess the way you... dropped in has something to do with it.” This time I lowered myself down over the ledge and dropped gently down to the next outcropping.

The changeling looked back at her tied down wings for a moment, then squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again. She didn’t respond, and didn’t say anything more as we climbed the rest of the way down.

On the bottom of the valley ran a muddy brown river. On one end of the rift in the land a majestic waterfall fell, creating a mist that rolled through the crevasse, making everything around the river damp and mucky.

Before us ran a thin trail, worn into the wet ground by the creatures that stalked the area. Large paw-prints and smooth tracks from something that slithered along the ground lined the bank we were on.

The mist was rather thick, it obscured the other side of the river, and the hulking shapes of large rocks gave the place an eerie feel. The sensation of being watched made my skin crawl.

“What could possibly survive down here?” Chrysalis murmured and looked around at the stones half obscured by the fog, as well as the brown river where rocks below the water created the illusion of something big moving around. Or maybe it just was something big, I didn’t intend to find out.

“You don’t want to know. And if we’re lucky, you won’t find out either...” I whispered back and started walking down the trail, keeping a wary eye at the fog.

“Couldn’t we just have gone around?” She asked quietly. Surprisingly she sounded more alert than frightened. “There must be a better way than this?”

I froze in my tracks. Something had just moved in the dim light the fog allowed through. I slipped the staff from my shoulder and pulled off the bag. “Hold this, and stay quiet.” I whispered and passed the bag over my shoulder.

Chrysalis slipped the bag over her hoof and placed it between her chest and me. “What did you see?” She hissed quietly.

“Hopefully nothing. Be quiet.” I hissed back and crouched behind a rock.

Minutes passed, and I neither heard nor saw anything move.

Slowly I made my way out from behind the stone, and started slowly moving forward, keeping a watchful eye out for anything that moved. The sensation of being watched was even stronger, and I saw something move in the water that was definitely not a rock.

“We have to get out of here quickly.” I murmured to my passenger. “If night falls before we’re out...”

“What?” She hissed.

“Then we’re in trouble.” I answered and prowled forward.

Again I saw a shadow move through the fog, only this time there were two of them, and there were no hiding places in sight.

“This isn’t good...” I whispered. Chrysalis stayed silent, but I could feel her moving around on my back. Likely keeping watch behind.

For what felt like an eternity we slinked through the fog. Shadows constantly moved around us, and I could hear muted snarls and hisses from the nigh impenetrable fog.

Then a creature shrieked from above. The sound made the hairs on my arms stand on end, and I could see a large shadow moving above us. The creature’s wings churning the fog as it flew above.

I crouched as low as I could get and held my breath. The thump of wings became distant, and I let out my breath.

“Well. That was exci...” I didn’t get to finish my sentence, for at that moment something shot out of the fog before us, it was a large wolf-like creature. I barely got a look at a glowing yellow eye as it shot by us, huge fangs and a mass of black fur lining its muzzle.

“Oh boy...” I said and clutched my staff. “That’s not good.”

I could hear Chrysalis breathing hard on my back. “What was that? I’ve never seen anything like it.” She looked fearfully at the twirling fog where the creature had disappeared.

“Direwolf.” I whispered while listening for signs of its whereabouts, but the fog and the rushing of the river muted anything more than a few feet away. “I don’t think it’s here to say hello and share a friendly chat.”

Before Chrysalis could respond, howls came from all around us, and shapes only slightly smaller than the direwolf moved around us just out of sight.

“Damn.” I spat and crouched.

“What? What’s going on?” Chrysalis whispered through clenched teeth.

“A pack. This is bad, very very bad.” I glanced around, and looked into the churning water not two metres away. “I need you to trust me.”

“Why? What are you doing?” She sounded tense.

“Just trust me, okay?” I clenched the staff harder in my hand, and checked the knots on the harness.

Then I jumped into the murky river.
---

“This was a stupid idea!” I gasped as I surfaced once more. The river ran a lot faster than I had anticipated, and the underwater currents constantly dragged us under. On my back a thoroughly soaked changeling was cursing in a language I didn’t understand, half the words were chittering, but their meaning was not lost on me.

I swam for all I was worth, trying to reach the other bank of the river, away from the pack of undoubtedly hungry and furious direwolves. I constantly felt something slither along my legs, and prayed that it was just debris or rocks in the river.

Something suddenly grabbed my leg, and I yelped in surprise before we were dragged under. The water was so dirty that I couldn’t see what had grabbed us. I jabbed at it with my staff, and hit something soft that recoiled at the impact, leaving me free to swim to the surface.

I gasped for air when I breached the surface, and I could hear Chrysalis coughing up water.

“You alright?” I yelled back at her, the river was picking up its pace, and I could hear the roar of a waterfall not far ahead.

“No!” She cursed some more and coughed up another lungful of water. “Get us out of this damned river!”

I heard a splash from behind us and Chrysalis screamed. I turned in time to see a tentacle the size of a tree trunk shooting towards us. Before I could raise my staff, another tentacle shot out of the water and something wrapped itself around my torso.

The waters before us began churning furiously, and we were lifted out of the water.

From the depths of the raging river rose a monster like nothing I had ever seen. The head was vaguely humanoid, but the eyes were black slits like those of a toad, and it’s mouth looked more like a gaping wound full of razor sharp teeth. Along its forehead were several horns, and its breath stank like meat left in the sun for weeks.

“Oh crap!” I yelled and started hitting the tentacle wrapped around my waist and Chrysalis’.

The creature roared, droplets of water and saliva flew at my face. Instead of letting go, the appendage only tightened, and I could hear my ribs groaning in protest. Chrysalis screamed in pain and fear as the chitin around her torso bent under the stress.

Painfully slow, the creature lowered us towards its gaping maw, and I could tell that this was it. I would either die being slowly digested in the creature’s belly, or live eternally in its bowels while my companion was eaten away by the acids.

Then something even bigger moved in the water, and a scaly claw wrapped around the first monsters head. The squid-like monster roared with pain as the claw dug into its skin, grey blood seeping up around the wounds.

The creature flinched, and suddenly we were airborne.

Our flight ended when we painfully impacted against something large and very hard. I glimpsed what looked like the support of a ruined bridge before darkness pressed against my vision and I slipped out of consciousness.
> Chapter 5: On dry land
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cold.

It was so cold.

Why in the world had I decided that climbing a mountain to check out a crumbling tower halfway covered in snow would be a great idea...

Oh, right. The view.

From atop what was left of a near collapsed tower I could see for miles in every direction. To the west I could see the sun glinting in the water of the sea. I imagined ships rolling in the gentle waves, carrying their cargo from one side of the world to another, the softly creaking wood and the rustle of the sails, the smell of clear air with a hint of salt. Nothing but the ocean in any direction.

To the south were the plains, only broken by green patches of trees, I could almost feel the rustling grass beneath my bare feet. The serenity given with nothing but the breeze as a travelling companion, tugging at the sleeves of my shirt, urging me forwards. Flowers growing wildly where the wind had scattered them, untamed.

In the southeast lay the great forests. Trees as tall as the world was wide, plants as ferocious and beautiful as any predator. The rustle of animals scampering at the slightest sound, the growls of their hunters. Beneath the canopies of the great forests the light comes down only through feeble rays, almost giving anyone between the ground and the sky the feeling of being beneath water. The never ending war for the life-giving sunlight.

To the east, where I was heading, there was sand. Sand for as far as the eyes could see. Scorching heat, scorpions and nights colder than this tower, crusted with ice as it was. I could almost feel the sand burning my feet, the sun assaulting my skin without mercy. The moon, cold and distant, never answering the howl of the wind. And the walls of a city greater than I had ever seen, the buildings half covered in sand, worn smooth by the eons it had stood empty.

Standing there, on top of the world, I wondered if there truly were nothing but ruins here.

That, and why the sun wasn’t rising. I lay down to rest, and woke the next morning to find that the moon was still in the sky. It’s presence felt more ominous than before, and its light felt colder somehow, less benign.

The night lasted for a week. My feet and back froze against the parapet, a layer of ice holding me captive. I found myself wondering if this was the end of the world. Such a beautiful, yet desolate place did not deserve such an end.

When the sun finally crept over the horizon, I had almost lost hope. The gentle warmth of its rays rose me from my slumber, and I could feel heat slowly working itself back into my limbs.

The night would not last forever after all.
---

I woke with a start. Jerking up only to groan in discomfort at the pain in my ribs, and I briefly wondered why it hadn’t healed when I heard a girlish snort from a short distance away.

“Well. The human is finally awake.” Chrysalis said with a smug grin. She was sitting on the other side of a crackling fire.

I rose to a sitting position more slowly and looked around. We were still in the valley. Around us the roiling fog swirled in a light breeze, concealing anything outside the range of the fire. Below us were stones, worked stones I realised with surprise and looked around more carefully.

We were sitting on the end of a broken stone bridge, sheltered by a square support-pillar overgrown with lichen. From what I could see, it went no farther than a few metres out over the river before it abruptly ended. To my continued surprise there was a road running from it, I could not see where it went. For all I knew, it might have stopped just outside the light of the fire.

“What happened?” I croaked groggily, rubbing my hair. When my fingers came away they were red with blood, but I could feel no wound.

“Before or after we so gracefully slammed into that pillar over there?” Her smirk never left her face, and her eyes glowed softly in the dim firelight, the green of her eyes mixing with the gold of the fire.

I shook my head and winced. I remembered jumping into the water to escape the wolves, but everything after was blurry.

“Before...” I grunted and tried to rise, only to find that the world spun viciously and sat down with a thump.

Chrysalis looked innocently to the side, smiling girlishly, frankly it creeped me out. “Well, when a queen and a praetorian loves each other very much...”

I cut her off with a glare. “Spare me the witticisms Chrysalis. You know what I mean.”

She continued to smile, though it turned slightly predatory as her gaze returned to me. “A lot of creatures would jump at the possibility of learning about changeling breeding habits, Tom.”

I bared my teeth and spat into the dirt. “Well, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about it right now.” I frowned. “Tom?”

“Yes. I heard that somepony called a rock that once.” She gave a short laugh. “And you’re pretty thick-headed. Your loss.”

I rubbed my eyes with my fingers and shrugged. My body was aching, and I was not in the mood for bantering with a changeling too snarky for her own good in a place that could very well turn about and kill us at any moment.

“Shut up... Just tell me what happened after we jumped into the river...” I ground my teeth. “Please.”

“I couldn’t tell you if I were to shut up,” she gave me a sly smile “now could I?”

With a grunt of effort and pang of pain I stood up and shakily got over to the harness. It lay wet and slightly torn beside the fire.

“Just tell me.” I picked up the harness and wrung most of the water out of it. “Or I’ll put you upside down in the harness for the next two days.”

Chrysalis’ smile fell, and I saw a twinge of disgust pass over her features. “You wouldn’t...”

“It would make the trip all the more pleasant for me you know.” I smirked at her and held the harness closer to the fire, hoping to dry it off some.

She sneered at me and slumped a little in defeat. “Fine... You’re no fun...” Chrysalis rolled her eyes and started telling me about our quite fortunate swim.

“Wait? Tentacle monster?” I interrupted her. “You mean like a kraken? Here? In a river? I thought they lived at sea or something?”

Chrysalis sighed and rolled her eyes. “And just how am I supposed to know if it was a kraken or not? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.” She sneered again and looked away. “Until now I thought hydras were the most dangerous creature in the water.”

I froze and stared at her. “Hydras? You have hydras on this world?”

Chrysalis looked exasperated. “Yes, so we do indeed. What of it?” I pulled the harness away from the fire when it began to smoke, and returned my attention to her. “If it hadn’t been for the river serpent eating the ‘kraken’, we would be dead by now.”

I froze, and the color drained slightly from my face. “River serpent? You mean there’s a giant serpent in this river, not twenty feet away and you lit a fire?!” I hissed and started kicking dirt onto the fire.

“Oh don’t do that. It was such a nice little fire.” A deep basso voice rumbled from behind me. “So warm.”

My eyes twitched and I slowly turned around. Behind me, rising three meters out of the water, were a grey and white river serpent. It was thick enough around the neck that three men couldn’t have reached around if they tried. Its face was that of a dragon, framed by a grey tangle of hair. One of its eyes were closed, the edges crusted with algae, the other shone blue, like the sea in a storm. The eyebrows were long wisps of grey hair, and it crested in a frown as the creature looked down at me.

“Now why are you looking at me like that?” He rumbled. “It’s not nice to stare.”

I heard Chrysalis snicker beside me and turned to find that she had hobbled up to my side, grinning at my obvious fear of the monster towering above us.

“Oh don’t worry Valiant” I stared incredulously at her “He gets like that when he’s excited.” She gave me a sultry grin, and I felt bile rise in my throat.

“Oh really now.” The serpent grinned, flashing shining white teeth all too sharp to be healthy, for us.

“You know this creature?” I hissed through my teeth, my throat tight with fear. I started to back away, hoping that the mist might hide us from becoming this monster’s next meal.

“Creature? By the stars, how vulgar!” Valiant said jokingly, a clawed hand clutching his chest in mock offence.

Chrysalis grinned and gave me a pointed look. “You should have heard what he called me when we first met.” She frowned and looked at me trying to slink away. “What are you doing?”

I stared at her. “I’m trying not to end up as ‘Valiant’s’ next meal!” I sneered, and all of a sudden my leg cramped, causing me to tumble backwards onto the paved stone of the road.

Valiant chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, thank you for the offer” he grinned deviously, once more showing off his disturbingly sharp teeth “but I already ate.”

I couldn’t help but bark out a half choked bark of laughter, and some of my tension started to fade. “That you did.” I got back to my feet and rubbed my still-bloody hair with an awkward smirk. “Thank you for that.”

“Oh it was no trouble! It was just in time for dinner.” He half smiled, looking a bit ashamed. “I would have shared, but I got a bit... enthusiastic.”

“What a kind thought.” Chrysalis said, smiling pleasantly up at Valiant. Which surprised me, Chrysalis hadn’t really struck me as the type that was able to smile pleasantly.

I shrugged the thought away and walked back to her side. “So.” I said, trying to match Chrysalis’ smile, a bit forced maybe, but I was still a bit unsure of this creature. “How do you two know each other?”

Chrysalis turned to me and licked her lips, her grin once more having that predatory quality I had grown to know her for. “We had more than enough time to get...” Her smile turned sultry “aquainted, while you were asleep.”

I shuddered, terrible images flashed through my mind. Terrible, impossible pictures.

Valiant must have noticed my vacant, disgusted stare. “Chrysalis, stop teasing the man.” He frowned. “Or woman. I mean no offense, but I can never tell with new species.”

My eye twitched a little, but I couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “I’m male, yes.” I gave a slight grin. “At least I was the last time I checked.”

Chrysalis flashed me another sultry grin. “Oh, he’s male all right.” Her grin deepened when I turned to stare at her. “I checked.”

Both of them laughed when my face flushed red with embarrassment, and I could feel my eye twitch again.

Valiant’s laugh trickled away and he turned to me, smiling pleasantly. “I must say, your companion here is quite amusing.” He stroked his chin. “I was under the impression that changelings were... somewhat unsavoury, but despite her strange choice of mate, she is rather charming.”

Not exactly the wording I would have cho... “Mate?!” Chrysalis and I exclaimed in disbelief.

“Wait wait wait... Hold on there a minute.” I croaked. “Mate?”

Valiant cocked an eyebrow. “Yes? Is that not what you are?” His gaze changed from me to Chrysalis and back again. “You seem rather protective of her, so I just assumed... Oh dear.”

“Well! Of course I am. She’s a friend!” I paused and glanced at the changeling. “I think...”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, but I saw the shadow of something unreadable flash through them. “Yes yes. We’re just friends. Nothing more.” She winked at me conspiratorially “Yet.”

I rubbed my temples, and once more I wondered just what in the world I had gotten myself into.
---

The sun finally rose over the edge of the valley, and the mist lightened enough to see more than a few metres at a time. It was now obvious that the road continued further down the valley.

“Are you sure you have to leave so soon?” Valiant said, his voice sad.

I grunted and finished tying the harness with Chrysalis to my back. “Yes. I’m sorry that you can’t come with us though, it would be nice with some polite company.” I shot the changeling a pointed glare, and she snorted.

“True... Some times being bound to the river is a curse.” Valiant said somberly. “Oh well, maybe I shall travel to the sea. It has been a while...” He trailed off.

“I know the feeling.” Chrysalis said with a slight hint of contempt directed at her situation.

Valiant sighed and looked wistfully up at the barely visible sky above. “Very well. I bid you good travels then... Maybe we’ll meet again one day under better circumstances...”

“I think he forgot.” Chrysalis whispered to me, and I nodded in response.

“Valiant?” I turned to the large serpent after fastening the last strap.

“Yes?”

“You agreed to escort us to the end of the valley, remember?” I said.

“Oh... right” He chuckled. “Then let us be on our way!” He rubbed his hands together and began slinking back into the water. “To think that I have gotten two new friends, and here of all places. Chrysalis and...” He frowned and turned to me. “I never got your name! How rude of me.” He flushed a bit red, and I turned my head away.

“He doesn’t have one!” Chrysalis quipped cheerfully from behind me. “I get to name him!” I could practically feel her grin.

“Oh my. How terrible!” He exclaimed, his expression one of concern.

“Tell me about it...” I grumbled under my breath, and Chrysalis bopped me on the head.

“How did this come about? Did he hit his head? I had a cousin who thought his name was Steven for a whole month after colliding with the riverbank.” He ducked his head closer to mine to peer into my eyes, and I realised that if he wanted to he could eat both me and my cargo in one fell bite.

Chrysalis snickered. “I’m sure he has hit his head plenty of times, but no. I just don’t think he has one.” I could tell that the entire name situation was quite amusing to her by the way she suppressed her chortles.

“How terrible.” Valiant murmured and gave me a calculating look. “That just won’t do!” He put a clawed hand on his chest and a finger on my shoulder. “I will help you find a name!” He said with a grin.

I groaned and rubbed my temples... Just what in the world had I gotten myself into...
> Chapter 6: Dead on Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I loved the sea. The flapping of the sail when the wind let us race over the foam tipped valleys of water always gave me a feeling of exhilaration, of freedom.

Though, I prefered it when the chief wanted to trade more south. Standing in the middle of one of the worst storms I’ve been in while sleet covered the deck and frost grew in my beard wasn’t all that great.

There had been better trips. But the ship was holding, and we were making good time for the northern part of England.

Our longship was one of the fastest in the trading fleet, and it cut through the foaming water like hot steel through butter. So fast that the last we had seen of them were two days ago, when the storm started.

Now the sea was frothing like a wild animal, and the sail was snapping like a whip.

“Lower the sails!” The chief yelled, his voice barely audible over the roar of the wind. The ship was rocking wildly, and the footing was unsure. Even without the sleet covering, the trip to the mast was a treacherous one.

A wave rolled over the deck, only the rope binding me to the hull prevented me from being dragged to sea.

The wind howled furiously, and in the end we had no choice but to cut the sail and hope for the best.

The only warning I got was a loud crack. I turned in time to see the mast, still with the tatters of the sail flapping from the top, fall towards me. The deck had torn, and the entire ship was squealing and breaking around the mast.

It missed me by a hairs breadth and I breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around, I saw that despite major damage to the hull the ship was still intact, and nobody had been unfortunate enough to be beneath the mast when it fell.

People were yelling, frustration and panic evident in their voices as the ship continued to roll in the treacherous waves. I heard a yell of warning from behind me, and then I was in the water.

The freezing waters of the north sea surrounded me on all sides except up, where the deck of the ship bobbed in the waves. We had keeled over, the churning of the water around me making it impossible to see if anyone else was still underneath the ship.

And I was still tied to the hull. 

My knife wasn’t there.

My lungs burned as I thrashed in panic, trying to get loose.

I tried to breathe in, but all I got was a lungfull of freezing water.

My whole body burned, and my vision started to fade.

Lights swam before my eyes.

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

---

We parted ways with Valiant when the road deviated from the river and began going up the valley.

“Well.” I said with a slightly forced smile. “It has been great Valiant, but I guess this is where we part ways.”

To be honest, I felt relieved that we were finally leaving the talkative river-serpent behind. Even if his presence kept the other creatures of the vale at bay. The guy could talk, and talk.

I think even Chrysalis was relieved. I could feel her exhale against my neck and sag a little in the harness.

We never got any closer to naming me either, which was starting to frustrate Chrysalis more than she would show. Most of the names they suggested revolved around the staff, though even the scraggly beard clinging to my chin wasn’t left in peace in the struggle to find something to call me.

“You’re leaving already?” Valiant sagged a bit in the water, looking forlorn. “Can’t you stay for lunch at least? I could catch some fish?”

“I’d love to, mate. But we should really get going.” I said, still forcing the smile.

Valiant pouted and did a surprisingly good puppy-dog expression for such a hideous creature. “Aw, why the hurry? You won’t miss much if you stay for lunch?” He pleaded, and I felt a pang of sympathy. Valiant probably didn’t get many chances to talk to people, being this far from anyone had to be lonely.

I tried to look remorseful and started on a reply when Chrysalis cut me off.

“We’re sorry Vali, but we’ve got a really long journey ahead.” She bit her lip masterfully and looked truly sorry. “I have to get back to the hive before it devolves into full on chaos... The drones really don’t know what to do with themselves without me.” She smiled wistfully at him.

“Oh well. I guess it can’t be helped then.” Valiant smiled sorrowfully back at us and I hefted Chrysalis a bit further up on my back. “Promise me you’ll write?”

I started walking and gave the serpent a last glance and a wave. “Sure, mate. Until we meet again!”

“Bye Vali!” Chrysalis waved enthusiastically back at him.

“Fare well, friends!” Then he was gone, sunken back into the murky depths of the river, leaving me and Chrysalis alone once more.

I sighed heavily in relief and started up the side of the valley and into the sunlight for the first time in days, the only sounds being the crunch of rock beneath my bare feet.
---

The next three days were uneventful to say the least. Before us was nothing but the grey and barren landscape of the wastes. Only a few trees clung to life on the side of the patchy road we were following.

The road itself was hard to follow, at times it would just disappear without warning, only to re-emerge a mile or so later. It made me wonder what this place must have looked like in the past.

I could imagine the hills being filled with trees and lush grass covering the ground. People driving their carts over the well paved road going from place to place, trading, travelling or just enjoying themselves.

My thoughts were interrupted by a crow’s call on the side of the road. In a spindly old tree sat a single crow, and in it’s claws were something dark with a slight green tinge to it.

The crow cawed again and picked at whatever it held, I dismissed it and kept walking.

On my back Chrysalis was sound asleep, her head rested peacefully on my shoulder. She snored softly, and honestly it was adorable, even coming from a creature such as her.

For two more hours we walked in silence, the only change being the steadily building number of crows in the landscape around us.

Their voices eventually woke Chrysalis from her slumber, and she blearily looked around us at the rather unsettling amount of crows. All of them either fighting over a scrap of something dark and green, or devouring small pieces in silence.

“What’s going on?” She asked, her voice slightly slurred from sleep.

“Bloody crows, that’s what’s going on.” I grumbled. I never liked crows, they were never a good sign. This many of them could only mean one thing.

“Why are there so many of them?” Chrysalis looked around us, and the countryside was blanketed in a shroud of black forms, the air filled with their incessant caws. “What are they eating? It almost looks like...” She fell silent.

“What? Do you recognize that stuff?” I asked.

“Yes...” She whispered, her voice tight, almost choked.

A small group of crows were fighting over a shred of the dark material in the middle of the road before us. I took hold of my staff and handed the bag to my passenger. 

“Hold on.” I said and charged at the murder of crows. They scattered like waves before the prow of a ship, cawing in irritation and offense. One of them tried to carry away the slab of what looked like meat, but it was too large to be carried by a single crow. I batted the crow away, and it dropped the piece of meat.

One side of the ‘morsel’ was hard and shell like, and I heard Chrysalis whimper on my back.

“Chrysalis... Is this...” I let the words trail off as I turned the piece of meat and a drop of green blood ran down my hand. It looked eerily familiar, the texture something I had felt before.

I fell silent and let the changeling flesh fall to the cobblestones. It made a soft ‘clack’ when the hard part hit the ground.

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled and stepped over the slab of meat.

It was not long before we came upon a larger tree. Its branches were so filled with crows that it looked like it had gained black foliage. Beneath it the ground was green with ichor, and I felt anger rise in my chest.

I undid the knots on the harness that bound Chrysalis to my back and lowered her carefully to the ground. 

She looked up at me, bewilderment and tears in her eyes.

“Why are we stopping?” The changeling glanced at the dried pool of blood beneath the tree. Her eyes widened, then her face changed from sadness to anger. I could hear her growl, it was a deep and primal sound. She climbed out of the harness, her ruined wings were standing almost straight up, and her muzzle was baring a full set of fangs. “How dare they!”

I put a hand on her shoulder, and I could feel her shaking with rage. “Take it easy. I’ll fix this.”

The crows didn’t give us a sidelong glance when we approached the blood-soaked tree. Their cries sounded more like a continuous roar beneath it, and I felt apprehensive. A single crow could not harm us, but if this many decided to aim their beaks at us the situation would turn dangerous.

I rose the staff above my head, and started shouting and waving at the crow-filled tree to no effect. I could almost imagine the creatures rolling their eyes before continuing their feast. They didn’t even spare me a glance as I continued my attempt at scaring them off.

“Well, that didn’t work...” I let my arms fall to my sides in defeat, when a flash of green at my side startled me into falling flat on my ass.

Where Chrysalis had once stood, there now was a three limbed lion. It’s eyes flashed green before settling into the glare of a predator eyeing its prey. Beside the missing limb, it looked exactly like what I would expect a lion to look like, brown mane, tan fur, vicious claws and an impressive set of teeth.

It inhaled, and roared.

The large murder of crows leapt into the air, as startled as I was. It rose from the branches like a dark cloud, revealing the thick limbed grey husk of what had once been a majestic leviathan of a tree.

It would have awed me, if I had not been busy crawling away from the lion in fear for my life. Or at least fear for my health. The only thing that stopped me from backing away into the horizon was a rock the size of a small house. In fear I leapt to my feet and tried to climb the shear surface. All it gained me was several cracked nails and cuts that disappeared almost as fast as they were inflicted.

Suddenly the three-limbed lion was consumed in green fire before my eyes. When the brief flame died down, the familiar form of my companion revealed itself.

“What the hell?!” I shouted, still backed up against the rock. “What the hell was that?”

Chrysalis glanced at me and sneered before hobbling over to the tree. She put her good hoof on the tree’s trunk and scanned the branches.

My rapid breathing started to calm, and I took a few deep breaths while clutching my chest. I could feel my heart racing beneath my hands, the mild panic slowly subsiding to allow confusion and concern to replace it.

I approached the tree slowly, still feeling trepidation towards the changeling now standing at its base.

“Chrysalis?” I asked tentatively. Then my voice rose in pitch and volume. “What the hell was that?!”

The mare huffed out a breath in consternation and gave me a brief look that spoke volumes. “Not now. Later.”

“Fine!” I threw my hands in the air and looked up into the branches of the tree. From our location it was impossible to see if anything had been stuck further up. I placed the staff on the ground and leapt for the closest branch, hoisting myself up on it.

The entire tree creaked and popped as I settled. For a moment I feared that the entire husk of the gargantuan tree would fall with me in it, but nothing happened.

“Can you see anything?” I heard from below. I looked down at my friend below, her fierce expression turned to one of... fear? Sadness?

“Not yet.” I replied and started climbing slowly and carefully upwards, testing every branch on the way. I almost slipped and fell twice when the branch I reached for turned out to be covered in green blood.

I didn’t have to climb far before I came upon the first body. It was startlingly similar to Chrysalis, only significantly smaller, and large chunks of it were missing. The head was grotesque, the eyes had been picked clean, and most of the chitin covering was gone, revealing gleaming white bone beneath. The scientific part of my mind noted that there actually was a skeleton beneath the exoskeleton. I dismissed the thought and let my eyes roam further down the changeling’s body.

Its midsection had been crushed when it impacted the branch it now lay on, and I knew that it couldn’t have died immediately. My face scrunched up in sympathy for the poor thing, imagining the pain of its last moments.

I shook my head and tried to spot Chrysalis on the ground through the cluster of branches.

“Found one!” I yelled down. “I’m going to see if there’s more!”

No reply.

I continued scaling the tree, careful to avoid stepping on the branch the changeling lay on. I spotted a limb sticking out from another branch and started towards it.

This changeling had been skewered by several thick branches. One of them went through an eye-socket and out through the back of its head. I couldn’t help but feel thankful that this one had died instantly, not sharing the agony of the one further down the tree.

After almost ten minutes of searching I could not find any more bodies. My stomach was in turmoil from the blood and gore covering the corpses, but I fought it down and pried the changeling that had been turned into a morbid pin-cushion from the branches that held it.

I clutched the corpse beneath my arm and started making my way towards the one further down the tree. The climb was treacherous with only one hand free, and my luck ran out faster than I would have liked.

When I reached for a handhold, my hand grasped nothing but empty air, and I fell.

My hold on the changeling corpse slipped when I hit a branch, and I heard a wet squelch as it hit another dry sprig beneath me. Then there was an ominous cracking sound, and I could feel the entire tree shudder.

“Watch out!” I tried to yell, but it came out as a croak. The wind had been blown out of me when I hit the branch.

The dry old tree shuddered, and I could hear several cracks and snaps coming from the trunk. 

With a creak that sounded more like distant thunder, it began toppling over.
> Chapter 7: Blood and Ash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A thick swirling mist rolled over the ground where I stood. A few feet away in every direction the world faded to a deep red haze that churned and pulsed in a slow rhythm.

When I moved, I could not feel my feet moving over the ground. There was no sound but a slow thump that came and went with the same rhythm of the red haze.

It was a heartbeat.

For an unknown amount of time I walked in an indiscernible direction, not knowing if I was actually moving. 

Something moved within the haze, shadows that disappeared when I focused on them. After a while I heard whispers in the fog, it was too low to hear what was said, but it felt malicious.

A hand shot up from the roiling fog beneath me and grasped at my leg. It had smooth skin and long black nails on the fingertips. It passed right through me, and I felt my chest tighten as my leg swirled and distorted as if it was part of the fog.

Something shrieked, it sounded gleeful, victorious.

“You’re mine now,” a feminine voice whispered beside my ear. “You will never leave again.”

I shivered and tried to turn my head, I couldn’t. All I could do was continue to move forward.

A light shot through the haze, and I heard a foghorn far away in the distance. The light swept in an arc before me, slicing through the fog, blinding me when it passed over my face. Then it disappeared, as if it had never been there.

I felt something land on my shoulder, and a crow’s head appeared in my peripheral vision. It looked at me, cawed once and started pecking on my ear. There was no pain.

It cawed again and took flight, beneath it’s talons my shoulder dissipated and swirled before slowly returning to its original shape.

I walked for an eternity, whispers following my every step. Gleeful cackling and the sound of distant cannon fire reverberated through the red haze.

Another light appeared, and I heard a train’s whistle pierce the air. The rhythmic thu-thug of a steam engine came closer and closer. The light grew, and around it a huge black shape formed. I felt fear grasp my heart harder.

The muffled roar grew stronger, and I could see the haze part before something large. It whistled again, louder, closer. It was close.

It passed within inches of my right arm, the hulking shape of a black train. Windows on the carriages glowed a dull golden color as it thundered by me, there was no rumble in the ground. All I could hear was the roar of its engines and the wind whistling against its hull.

Then it was gone.

“There is no escape,” the voice whispered again. “You’re mine now.”

I could do nothing but move forward.

The pulsing of the red haze slowed, and I shivered. The heartbeat slowed with it.

My foot hit something solid that rolled away with a dull thud. It was a human skull. It had been bleached white, and all the teeth but its canines were missing. They were longer, sharper, more vicious looking than they should have been. It disappeared into the fog.

Another skull appeared, this one normal but for the spine attached to its base. It moved like a snake, trying to wrap itself around my feet, hitting nothing. The skull hissed and slithered away.

I kept walking.

A dark shape started forming before me, and I approached it feeling dread creeping up my spine. When the shape resolved itself it turned out to be a huge pile of skeletons, bony hands stuck out from crushed and misshapen ribcages. Empty skulls stared lifelessly at me as I began climbing.

I stumbled and I could feel my hands and legs tear on the jagged bones, they didn’t bleed.

The climb seemed endless, but soon I could see the top.

Balanced by skeletal hands and legs, a throne perched precariously on the peak of the mountain of dead bodies. On it sat a figure dressed all in white. Framing the throne was a dim sun, casting the throne’s shadow down on me.

The figure rose. It was a woman. Her hair flowed around her face, hiding her features. The hair’s colors swirled and changed, ranging all the colors from deep red to bright blue.

On the front of the dress was a symbol of a sun.

“This is not the end,” the woman whispered. It sounded much milder than the malicious voice that had haunted my journey through the red haze, motherly and kind.

“He’s mine,” another voice hissed. “He will never leave this place.” It was the cruel one, but there was nothing else around us.

“Your journey does not end here, young one,” the woman’s voice was growing stronger, and the sun behind the throne shone brighter.

“He’s mine,” the malicious whisper repeated. “He will never leave this place.”

“Silence!” The woman before the throne roared, her dress flapping wildly in the wind that appeared as if from nowhere. The red haze swirled and roiled, and I could hear shrieks of pain coming from below. 

“You have a choice,” the white robed woman before me said, she stretched out her hand.

“No!” The voice shrieked from below. “He’s mine!”

The wind grew stronger, and the haze began to fade, revealing that the skeletons were nothing but marble and stone, shining in the light of the now blindingly bright sun.

“Take my hand, and leave this nightmare.” The woman’s hand stretched towards me, open and inviting. “Or do not, and stay forever.”

I reached out my hand to grasp hers. From behind me a coil made from the spine of a large beast shot forward. It wrapped itself around my torso, and pulled.

“He’s mine!” The voice screamed from somewhere in the fading red haze, and I could feel myself slipping backwards, pulled by whatever lay below.

I lunged forwards, screaming soundlessly, grasping for the woman’s outstretched hand. I felt strong fingers clasp around mine, and the cord from below dissipated into mist.

“You choose wisely, young one,” the woman said, a smile in her voice. “I am sorry.”

Then her other hand shot forward, clasping a sword as wide as my arm. The sword pierced my chest, through my heart and out my back. I screamed, my voice finally free.

---

My eyes shot open, and all the noise disappeared. I tried to scream, but no air left my mouth. When I tried to breathe in, the pain returned. The stabbing excruciating pain that radiated outwards from my chest.

I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t move. With a tremendous effort I managed to lift my head and look at what was pinning me.

It was a branch. A very large one at that, I thought that it had to be at least as thick as my thigh. And pinned against my chest, with the branch piercing through what little was now left of its skull, was one of the changelings. It had been pushed even further up the branch it had been impaled by, and I could see a trail of thick green blood mixing with broken parts of chitin and the bright red of my own blood.

Feeling started to return to my body, beyond the pain. I could feel something heavy draped across my lap, and tried to peer around the changeling on my chest. The thing on my lap was quivering, and a thought hit me. The branch must have severed my spinal cord, so how in the world could I feel something below the wound?

I dismissed the thought from my mind and strained to look over the corpse. Over my legs lay a sobbing and shivering changeling, it was almost twice the size of the one pinned to my chest. It took my mind longer than I liked to connect the dots, hazy from pain as it was.

Chrysalis lay muttering and sobbing, and in the eerie stillness I could hear her. “...lost him too...everyone is dead...” Her voice was cracked, and it sounded like she had been crying for a while.

I tried moving my legs, to do something to alert her that I was still alive and breathing. Well, at least alive. But even though I could feel my legs, I could not move them at all. With a hand I rubbed my face, trying to think of a way to signal her somehow.

Sighing didn’t work, and the eerie silence broken by her sobbing didn’t help. I stared helplessly at my hands, thinking furiously. 

The thought hit me like a ton of bricks, my hands and arms were free, and they moved! I would have facepalmed hard, if my desire to get free of the branch hadn’t overridden every other desire.

I felt the ground around me, swiping over the ground to try and find something. My hand went over a loose rock, and with more force than was probably necessary I hurled it at her. 

The stone went high, and clattered against the mutilated trunk of the tree, and Chrysalis didn’t react at all, not even a twitch of the ears.

I clenched my jaw and tried to find another stone. Instead my hand went over something sharp. I jerked my hand away and brought it before my face, lodged in it was a fang, doubtlessly from the impaled changeling. I pulled it out and threw it at her, it hit her mane, but she didn’t even flinch.

Another search yielded little fruit, and I turned my head to the side in defeat. There, right beside my head lay the grisly remains of a lower jaw. It was broken and cracked, and pieces of flesh and chitin clung to it. 

I grinned and picked it up. It was sticky and nasty, but it was heavier than the stone and the tooth. Aiming carefully this time, I threw it.

The disgusting remnant of a face hit home, it impacted her squarely in the jaw. It wasn’t exactly where I had aimed, but the spot was strangely fitting, and it did it’s job.

Chrysalis’ head whipped up and she looked at me with a glare. “Can’t you see I’m mourning here?” She said with venom, tears dripping from her eyes. “Leave me alone!” She nearly returned to her previous position before the realization hit her.

“You’re alive?” She whispered. Then the big changeling sprung up on her three hooves. “You’re alive!” This time she cheered and hobbled around to grasp my head in a crushing embrace.

The pain nearly made me pass out, but I managed to push her off me, barely. I scowled at her, gritting my teeth and trying to push the severe discomfort of her action out of my mind.

“Oh... Sorry?” Chrysalis did not look sorry. Not even a little bit, and my scowl intensified while I tried to draw her attention to the branch still pinning me painfully through the chest.

She seemed to understand, and grimaced when she took in the grisly display of gore. “That can’t feel good...” She muttered.

I wanted to shout at her, to vent the frustration and pain at her. Instead I had to settle for an eye twitch, and a slap to the back of her head.

Chrysalis turned to me, looking confused. I smiled sweetly, if a bit forced and pointed back to the branch and mimicked pulling it out. At least she seemed to understand that. 

“You want me to remove it?” She asked, and looked uncertain when I nodded. “But you might bleed out!” I just scowled in response. “Oh... right.”

Pulling out the rather large piece of wood was apparently harder than I first had believed. She tried pulling it out by hoof, but found that it was rather ineffective with only one leg still remaining. All it did was inflict even more pain, and I screamed soundlessly when she tried to wiggle it loose.

When she gave up, I poked her flank to get her attention. I put a hand to my head, balling it into a fist with my pinkie and thumb extended. With the thumb against my forehead, it could look somewhat like a crude representation of a horn.

“I don’t think pushing it with my horn would do any good.” She said, looking confused.

I clenched my eyes shut and facepalmed. Then I repeated the gesture, this time wiggling the fingers of my other hand at the branch, mimicking lifting it up with magic. 

At least she had the presence of mind to blush. “You want me to pull it out with magic... Of course, why didn’t I think of that...” I patted her head, wondering how in the world this moron ever had gotten the position of Queen of an entire race.

Soon the branch and her horn were enveloped in the same green aura, and I could feel a tugging sensation in my chest. It was accompanied by a pain so intense that sparks danced and flickered in my vision.

With a sickening squelch and a wet slurp the branch was free. The changeling corpse was stuck, and followed the branch up a foot or so before it slid free and fell straight into the now open wound in my chest face first.

I squirmed, both in pain and revulsion, and shoved the corpse off my chest. The blood around the wound was a vile mix of red and green, but the flesh was slowly knitting itself together.

Chrysalis was watching curiously, her nose practically touching the wound. Her face was a mix of fascination and disgust.

The worst part was that I could feel it all. I could feel the ribcage rebuilding itself, the tissue squirming and crawling like a thousand fire-ants dancing over my flesh. It burned.

Clenching my jaw harder than I had ever done before, I let my head rest against the ground. Trying to shut out the pain was an enormous effort in itself.

The crawling sensation stopped suddenly, and a sound reminiscent of the roar of a waterfall invaded my ears. The roar rose and fell slowly at first, but sped up quickly. I realised then that the eerie silence had been the absence of blood coursing through my veins.

But something felt wrong. As if something was in my body that didn’t belong. The feeling was spreading from my chest and outwards in tact with the beat of my heart, and I squirmed in discomfort.

“Ow, bloody hell.” I croaked and clutched my chest, the discomfort intensified when I breathed in. I turned to Chrysalis. “Let’s not do that ag...” The words died in my mouth as I beheld what she was doing.

She was levitating the branch in front of her, and her tongue was running over the blood soaked parts.

“What in the nine hells are you doing?!” I croaked as loud as I could, and sat up. I felt drained, but the discomfort was fading, leaving nothing but a slight tingle all over my skin.

Crysalis put the broken branch down and licked her lips. She turned to me with a slightly creepy smile, running her tongue over her fangs. “Oh nothing much, just a little something I wanted to try.”

“And what in the world could you possibly accomplish by licking my bloody blood off the bloody branch?!” I tried to rise to my feet, but my legs were still not cooperating. They could move, but they felt numb, as if they were asleep, and I had the sensation of pins and needles running over the skin.

Chrysalis sat down in front of me and put a hoof on my chest where the gaping hole used to be. Now, there was nothing but a pinkish scar as wide as the hole had been, and even now it was fading to a dull pale a shade greyer than the skin around.

“That is a surprise.” She said and grinned. “How do you feel?”

I could still feel the revulsion, but I sighed in defeat. At the time I just thought it was another cultural thing I would never get used to. “Like shit, I think some of that gunk, no offense, from your friend over there got into the wound.” I rubbed my arms, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

Chrysalis looked me over, her face passive, but her eyes had a curious sparkle in them. She prodded me here and there, poking just about everywhere. I slapped her hoof away when she was about to prod my privates, she just looked up at me with a smirk and sat up. 

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” She said, still holding the smirk. Her voice had a strange hint of smugness to it, and I just shook my head.

I glanced up at the sky, during our little operation the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and the air was getting chilly. I took a look at our surroundings as well. The tree had fallen over the road, its weight crushing and dislodging the old paving-stones. The other changeling corpse lay a few feet away, close to the trunk, but luckily not beneath it.

“What do you want to do with the bodies?” I asked morosely.

Her face fell when I changed the subject. “Tradition dictates that we burn the bodies.” She answered, looking down at the ground.

I smiled and put a hand beneath her chin, raising it so that I could look her in the eyes. “Then that’s what we’re going to do. We have enough firewood for a pyre at least.”

She smiled weakly in return. With her help I got to my feet, and together we gathered branches and broke more off the dry old tree.

When we were done, the changelings had been placed on their stomachs on top of a stable altar of firewood. Their posture relaxed, and their wounds hidden beneath a thin blanket of old leaves.

I picked the flint and steel out of my bag and presented them to Chrysalis. “Do you want to do the honors?”

She smiled but shook her head. “No. You do it. Without you we would never have found them in the first place.” She pushed my offered hands away. “I think it’s only fitting that you send them on to their final journey.”

That surprised me, but I just smiled and leaned down to light the pyre. When the sparks finally caught, the flames leapt eagerly over the dry wood. From behind me I could hear Chrysalis start speaking in a low voice.

“From the Ashes our people rose. 

To ashes our people will return. 

We were born of change.

Death is the final costume.

Let the wind carry us to new beginnings.”

Then she bowed to the now blazing pyre, the the flames consuming the two bodies and lifting the ashes towards the heavens in a sparkling inferno.

I sat down beside Chrysalis and draped an arm over her shoulders. She buried her head in the crook of my neck.

“Thank you. Walker.”
> Chapter 8: Inside and Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sighed and pulled off my mask. Taking it off was never a pleasant thing, and I dreaded it every night. The smell of woodsmoke, sick flesh and death permeated everything those days, even the pleasant and medicinal herbs I put into the ‘beak’ of my mask didn’t conceal the smell anymore.

I carefully placed the mask carried by those of my profession on the table before starting the process of getting out of my black suit. It was sweltering inside it, and the mask did not make it easy to drink during the day. Even so, I did not dare take it off anywhere outside my home, for fear of catching it.

Today I only had to bring the bad news to five patients and their families. The pestilence was unrelenting in its ferocity, and none were spared but those who lived in complete isolation. There were those with an immunity to the disease ravaging the lands, but they were shunned.

“Witchcraft!” They said, and I could not deny the implications. So many had died, and so many would die in the days to come. It was inevitable, the end of man would be brought upon us by a sickness.

Those afflicted by it grew blackened boils upon their flesh, their digits became inflamed, a fever took, and then they died in pain. There was no cure. Not even we, the doctors, were spared, even if we covered our bodies completely and wore masks to combat the disease.

Though, I supposed that it was only natural that we who came so close to the sick and dying every day would catch it ourselves. Even with our precautions.

I sighed and scrubbed my hands in the wash basin. I noticed that I was down to my last piece of soap and sighed once more. It was impossible to get supplies, all the trade-routes were blocked, and more ships disappeared at sea than came back. Not even they were spared.

It was thought that this was God’s work, his punishment for the sins of mankind. That it was like the great flood, to purge the world once more of our stain upon its surface.

I was not one of them. I believed that no god would wish such suffering upon his subjects, that visiting such torment upon us must rather be the work of Lucifer himself. Those who survived were blessed by God, to prevail and bring us back from the brink of armageddon.

I carefully knocked the contents of my mask out into a wastebasket, and spent an hour grinding and placing new herbs inside it. I was running dangerously low on the ingredients. Even my medicine cabinet was nearly empty, not that it had any effect on those that suffered. All I could do was ease their pain slightly for a short time.

After cataloguing and re-filling my medicine-bag, eating a small dinner consisting of a few moldy potatoes and a cup of bitter wine, I went to my bed and undressed for the night.

It was then that I saw the mark upon my chest. It was a dark spot slightly above my lowest rib, slightly protruding from the flesh around it.

I did not feel fear, only resignation. It seemed that my time had finally come.

I rose from my bed once more, and picked up a small vial of clear fluid from my medicine cabinet. I pulled off the cork-stopper, and lifted it to my mouth.

It would kill me in an hour, spare me the pain I so often saw in the people I attempted to treat.

It would allow me to fall asleep, and my bodily functions would cease without pain.

With disgust I threw the vial into a corner of the room. It shattered noisily, and the contents spilled everywhere.

I would not be a coward. I would not betray those that believed in my ability to cure them, my ability to at least ease their passing into the Heavens.

I would die with honor. Face Lucifer’s curse and curse his name thrice-fold before I laid down to die. 

With stiff legs I once more pulled my suit on and donned the mask once again. I hefted my bag on my shoulder and lit a lantern.

I pushed the fatigue into the back of my mind and strode once more into the fading day.

I would face my death with dignity and honor. I would stand, fight and do my best for the people under my care until my last breath. My suit would hide my illness from all but myself.

But eventually we must all face our sins, and burn.

---

I slept fitfully that night. My, well, everything felt tingly. Tingly and scratchy, as if I had fallen asleep in a patch of magical poison ivy.

When I woke up the day after the burial by fire, my head was pounding and I couldn’t stop scratching my skin. It was miserable, profoundly miserable.

The pain in my head felt like a mix of someone pounding inch-thick nails from every direction into my cranium, and feeling like it was crammed full of wool.

“Awake at last.” Chrysalis said with a hint of snark in her voice.

I groaned in response, unable to open my eyes to the blistering light of the sun. Something poked my midsection, and I cracked an eye open only to see Chrysalis readying another poke.

“Stop it...” I murmured weakly and tried to swat her hoof away. All I managed was to place a hand on her leg, not even able to push the raised appendage away.

“Are you not feeling well?” She asked, sounding more amused than concerned. Then the Changeling Queen decided that prodding me once more was in good order. All I could do in response was roll over and groan some more. “Oh don’t be a baby, it’s not that bad.”

I wanted to shout at her, but all I could do was scratch my arms furiously and cringe at the pain in my head.

“Gah, make it stop...” I whined. Not a very manly thing, sure, but I didn’t feel very manly at that moment.

As if by magic, the itching stopped, and the headache dulled. I almost cried in relief at the sensation of my skin not trying to tear itself off.

I rolled over on my back and stared into the cloudless sky. The lack of barbs trying to force themselves into my eyes felt heavenly.

A shadow fell over my face, and I found myself staring up into the smirking visage of Chrysalis. I noticed that her horn was glowing slightly before it faded away.

“Feeling better?” She said smugly and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

“What did you do?” My brows were creasing into a frown. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I saw her smirk evolve into a full blown grin.

“Oh, nothing much. Just a soothing spell.” She backed away a bit as I started getting to my feet.

I wobbled precariously once I got up, and I had to steady myself with a hand on Chrysalis’ back. She just continued to look at me with a rather smug expression while I felt even sillier for having to steady myself on a crippled changeling that had better balance than I did at the moment.

“Well. That was embarrassing.” I muttered and clutched my head. The throbbing pain had all but ceased, and I managed to stand on my own. “I haven’t felt like that since... well. I can’t remember.”

“Maybe it’s just your years catching up to you.” Chrysalis said with a grin.

“Oh, haha, so funny. I could laugh.” I gave her a deadpan expression. “But I won’t. What did you do?”

Chrysalis raised a hoof to her chest in mock indignation, before she remembered her missing leg and ended up face first in the dirt.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her. Though my laughter died as a particularly vicious lance of pain shot through my head.

“Ow...” We said in union, one spitting dirt out of her mouth, the other clutching his head in agony.

When the pain faded, I offered Chrysalis a hand and hauled her to her hooves.

“So,” I said “what did you do?”

“I did nothing.” She grumbled. “You brought this on yourself.”

“Explain.” I sat down on one of the remaining branches of the fallen tree. “And while you’re at it, you can tell me how in the world you suddenly became a bloody lion!”

Chrysalis mulled it over for almost a minute. She looked conflicted, almost a bit scared. In the end she sighed and looked over at me. “Fine, but I thought you wanted to continue our journey?”

“I do, but I don’t think we’ll get far if these headaches continue.” I sighed. “And if my skin starts itching again I’ll probably go nuts anyhow.”

This brought a smile to Chrysalis’ face. “More nuts than you already are?”

“Don’t try to deflect this, get to talking.” I said with a weary sigh.

“Very well, if that’s what you want.” She settled down on the ground before me. “What do you already know about Changelings?”

“Nothing more than you’ve told me yourself Chrysalis.” I replied and leaned forward. “You don’t like being called insects.” She bristled a bit at that. “And I’ve had more direct experience with your kind’s ‘insides’ recently than I’d like.” I thought back to what I had seen in the tree, and my subsequent experience with the one impaled over me. “You’ve got an internal skeleton as well as exoskeleton, which is weird by the way.”

“Why is that weird? I thought we already established that we are not... ugh... Insects” She asked.

“Well, it seems a bit excessive. I mean, why both?”

“It’s necessary. It makes our bodies tougher, and able to withstand much more than those with only one of the two.” She stated and tapped her chest. It made a solid thump when her hoof hit. “We have seen more conflict throughout our history than most other races, besides the Gryphon kingdoms.”

“Gryphons? There are gryphons here as well?” I shook my head. “How in the world have I been able to walk this world for so long and not see a single living thing besides wild animals?” I was getting more confused by the minute.

“I think you might have seen more than you think, Walker.” Chrysalis said with a smile. “There are more sentient races on this world than even I know of. If what you’ve told me is right, you have wandered through at least a couple of kingdoms or empires.”

“And which could that be? All I’ve seen is ruins, plains, forests and mountains...” I grumbled, maybe the world was just avoiding my presence.

“Well. The Western Woods hold the Cervine Empire.”

“Cervine? Isn’t that something or other about deer?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I did remember seeing deer on a couple occasions, mostly while walking through woodland.

“That would be right. The Deer are, well, a skittish sort. They don’t like strangers much.” She looked down and mumbled under her breath “May or may not have been my fault...”

“What was that last bit?” I Inquired.

“Nothing important. Let’s get back to us.” She coughed. “Well, changelings at least.”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Right. So, how is any of this related to my current... maladies?”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes and shifted a bit. “I’ll get to that soon. Now, I’m guessing that you’re curious about how I was able to change my form?”

I put my elbows on my knees and rested my chin in my hands. “Yes, do tell.”

“To put it simply, it’s magic.” She said with a grin.

“No, really? You don’t say?” I faked an astonished expression, which she rolled her eyes at and swatted at my knee.

“There’s more to it than that. A changeling can take the form of any creature that has at least the same amount of limbs and somewhat similar bone structure as ours.” She gestured to her body. “The transformation is a lot deeper than most would think. It actually changes just about everything about our bodies, even our bones. The target also needs to have a somewhat similar amount of mass as us.”

“Sounds reasonable, sort of?” I said. This was rather interesting.

“Yes. We are not able to change the mass of our bodies, just the shape. We can stretch it, but if I were to change into something smaller it would put a large strain on my body, and even if the transformation looks complete I would weigh more than anything that size should.” She saw my grin and added “No. I would not be a fat little filly.”

“Hey, I said nothing.” I said defensively. She just scowled at me. “How are you able to take another’s form though? If it goes deeper than just the surface, how does your body know what to change into?”

Chrysalis cringed and looked ready to run away before answering. “Blood.” She murmured.

“What was that?” I said, cupping my ear and leaning down. “I almost thought you said blood?”

She looked at me with a pained expression. “Yes. That is what I said.” The changeling sighed. “Blood contains the, well, building blocks of a body. At least that’s what we’re told.”

I felt a bit queasy. “Is that why you licked the blood off that branch? To get to my genes?” The queasiness was slowly changing into anger. “And you didn’t think of asking me if I thought taking my blood to... do whatever it is you do was okay?”

Chrysalis shrunk a bit under my glare, but another pang of pain made me sag back down on the branch. I hadn’t even realised that I was getting up.

“I... I didn’t think it was a problem...” She murmured.

“So, what now? Can you take my form or something?” I said, trying to push down the anger. All it did was making my head throb, and I really didn’t want to do more to upset her. Not right after finding two of her kin dead.

She looked up at me with a sort of sad smile. “No. I can’t.”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “How come?” I didn’t really want to know, but my curiosity won out. “I mean, we have the same amount of limbs. Well...” I flushed a bit “Normally, I mean.”

Chrysalis looked down at her stump of a leg. For some reason it looked slightly different, I shrugged it away. “Yes, but that’s not it. Your blood is...” she paused “Different. It seems to resist being absorbed.”

“I feel that there’s a ‘but’ in there.” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. I am able to absorb some of its properties, but it’s incomplete.” She got to her hooves and started hobbling around a bit. “If I tried using it right now, I would end up looking like... I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How bad could it be?” I asked.

“Well, for one I could end up without lungs.” She glanced over at me and smirked. “I do like to breathe.”

“Um, okay.” Well, that would be a problem. “So what will you do with it?”

“Oh, I’m not going to waste it. We’ll see in a few days if I can’t find some use of what I got.” She faced me and smirked.

“Right. So, what happens if your blood gets into someone else. Say, like me?” I wasn’t feeling very well, that was for sure. The tingling on my skin was slowly starting to come back, and I scratched my arm absentmindedly.

“That’s where it gets interesting, my dear Walker.” She moved closer, her horn glowing slightly, and a wicked smile on her face. “Assimilation happens.” Her horn flashed, and the world went dark.

Now read the authors note too
> Chapter 9: A marble Throne
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found myself back in the void, this time atop the marble throne rising above the pulsing sea of red. It was surprising to find that I was fully in control of myself, though I could not entirely remember why that was surprising.

In fact I had not the slightest idea where I was. The creepy mist below was making my skin crawl. It rose and fell almost like waves in slow motion, a blood-red tide upon a featureless background.

The landscape, if I could even call it that, was barren of anything but the marble tower I stood upon, and whatever the foggy depths concealed. Above there was nothing but grey air, seemingly devoid of life, clouds or even stars. There were no celestial bodies, nothing that could tell me if it was dawn, dusk, or the middle of the night. Though, I had to admit to myself that it felt a bit dawny-ish.

The air was still and smelled much like a dank cellar where something had died a long time ago. It was musty and thick, feeling almost as if it could at any moment choke me.

I resolved that the most reasonable course of action would be to stay atop the tower, there was even what looked like a throne just a few steps further up the stairs I found myself on.

I had tried sitting on thrones in some of the ruins I had come across, and they were never very comfortable. Hard, no pillows and with no lumbar support whatsoever. No wonder the kings of old were so cranky.

Though, I reasoned, most of the thrones I had come across were probably never intended for humans in the first place. Chrysalis had never mentioned any human-like sapient creatures inhabiting the world either. Neither had she mentioned what the world was called.

Not that the thought of asking had crossed my mind either. All I thought of it was ‘not-earth’ mixed with a few choice curse-words when it threw obstacles in my path. Like a volcanic canyon filled with sharp jagged rocks that both cut and burned when I threaded upon them. 

Oh, and the lava was great too, lost the pants I woke up in when they caught fire. Good times.

During my introspection the mist swirled and churned below, and I didn’t notice the incorporeal tendril that had begun rolling up the stairs like smoke from a pipe.

Which, of course made the sound of something hard striking marble just behind me, followed by an unholy shriek of frustration, it scared the living daylights out of me.

I may or may not have screamed like a little girl. A very manly, bearded girl, with chest-hair and a solid pair of... well, enough of that.

I jumped and turned with a speed that would impress martial artists for ages to come, raising my fists and prepared to face whatever horrid demon it was that had made the sound that hadn’t startled me in the slightest.

It was quite the surprise to see not a demon, but a woman clad in a white, semi-translucent dress with a stylized sun embossed on the chest. She stood with one foot on what seemed to be a smoky red tentacle of sorts. It writhed and twisted, trying to get loose, but the woman seemed to have a solid hold on it only showing a slightly disgusted expression on her soft and beautiful face.

Her hair was the strangest thing I had ever seen, it seemed to be billowing even though the air was stiflingly still and stale. The coloration baffled me, it seemed to contain the colors of both dawn and dusk. Pink through to blue, it was mesmerizing.

Or it would have been, if the creature she was pinning hadn’t let out another scream of insane rage. It jolted me out of my reverie, and my attention was once more pulled back to the rolling sea of red.

A figure was coalescing out of the mist, another female. This one seemed to be naked, her skin was the red of blood. She was screaming in frustration, pulling at the hand that was pinned beneath the somewhat more normal woman’s foot. Oh, and did I mention that she was naked?

It dawned on me that both the women before me were rather... exposed. The first woman’s dress was not concealing much, and seemed to be made up of gossamer or impossibly thin silk. I blushed furiously as I felt my blood rush to both my heads, and I praised whatever gods that were out there that I was apparently wearing pants.

I couldn’t even remember when I had seen a woman last. Especially not two, nearly naked women that looked close to tearing each other new ones.

This was either a very good, albeit weird, dream, or I had somehow been transported to somewhere I could learn to like.

Then their images shimmered, it was almost as if what I saw was an image superimposed on top of another, and my blood drained itself back into my body.

The woman in the white dress shimmered back and forth between a white horse with a horn and wings. Its mane and tail was the same as the woman’s hair, and on her flank was the stylized image of the sun that had been on her dress.

Beneath her the red woman was both a rather attractive, well-endowed female, and something that seemed to be taken directly from the deepest pits of Tartarus. Her head was serpent-like, and sported a single horn that curved back over her head and down to her neck. The edge of it looked sharper than the edge of a honed sword. Her body was still somewhat humanoid, obviously female, but covered in dark red scales that shimmered like blood. The similarities ended at her waist, where a serpent’s body began. It coiled down into the dark, boiling fog.

I felt a pressure in my head, as if the decision of what I was looking at was increasingly hard to make. Just when it was about to become painful, the images stabilized, and I was once more looking at two women locked in a staring contest.

“What the actual fuck.” I muttered and sat down hard on the marble staircase. This seemed to snap the two women out of their silent contest.

The white-clad woman, hereby dubbed sun-tits, turned to me and smiled. The smile was warm, and the world was literally brighter for it. In fact, the grey expanse above us seemed to lighten, and I could feel the air stir in a gentle breeze, moving the stale air.

Below her the red-skinned woman grinned a sly and almost serpentine grin, revealing shiny white teeth, too normal to be real. Her grin nearly counteracted the warmth from Sun-tits, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I dubbed her snake-butt.

I was not quite in my right mind at the time.

“Walker.” They spoke at the same time, and stared angrily at each other. Sun-tits lifted her foot slightly, and snake-butt pulled her hand out immediately and waved it in the air, wincing.

Sun-tits took the moment of silence as an opportunity to speak. “Walker. You are not supposed to be here again.” She said, her voice was melodic and motherly at the same time.

“Not yet at least.” Snake-butt said, while blowing at her hand. The white-clad woman glared at her. Their voices seemed familiar somehow, as if I had heard them in a forgotten dream.

I just groaned and shook my head, trying to clear the building pressure. I felt a light tap on my forehead, and everything seemed to come into sharper focus, and the pressure popped like a bubble.

I looked up to see Sun-tits’ hand being pulled back. I rolled my eyes and rubbed them vigorously, as if I had just woken up from sleep.

The red woman was staring at the white-clad one as if she had just touched her most prized possession.

“No meddling!” She hissed angrily and strode forward. She was taller than I had expected, taller than Sun-tits by at least a hand.

“That was not meddling. I was merely clearing his head.” Sun-tits smirked. “I expect that he will need it.”

“Meddling!” The other woman said venomously.

“Would you both shut up? Please?” I said and stood up, trying to keep my attention on their faces. “Just tell me what the hell is going on here!”

“You are dead.” The snake woman announced with a grin. “Again!”

“Dead?” I asked, looking down at myself. I seemed to be whole.

“Only nearly dead, Walker.” Sun-tits said calmly, placing a hand on my shoulder. I pushed it off, and her smile fell slightly.

“How the hell can I be near death now?” I thought furiously, my body was unmarred, almost unnervingly so. For the first time I could remember, I was free of scars. “I was doing fi... Chrysalis...” Her name came out in a hurt whisper.

“Quite so!” Snake-butt exclaimed cheerfully. “Seems your dear and only friend in this world has betrayed you!” She seemed almost ecstatic, far too happy I thought.

I turned to the white-dressed woman, hoping that she would offer a contradiction. Instead her smile had vanished, replaced by a sad frown.

“How?” I asked softly.

Before Sun-tits could reply, the red woman broke out in laughter. It was more of a mad cackle than a laugh. “Oh, you foolish little human. Her kind’s blood is highly... viral, in a way.”

“I am afraid that she speaks the truth, for once.” The dressed woman said, almost hesitantly.

“Okay. So I’m infected? By changeling blood? That sounds ridiculous!” I said loudly. “Ever since I woke up on this world I haven’t even caught a bloody cold!”

“Oh. But their blood is not an illness.” Red said cheerfully. “It’s magic!”

“Magic?” I asked. “That’s impossible.”

They both stared at me as if I had grown another eye, I couldn’t help feel foolish.

“You have seen her use magic before, Walker.” Sun-tits said with an air of incredulity.

“Right, that’s... true.” I felt my cheeks burn. “I’m having a hard time remembering anything beyond the last few hours.”

“This place will do that to one such as you.” The seemingly normal woman said.

“One such as me, huh? And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Incomplete. That is what she means.” The snake-woman answered for her.

“And how am I incomplete? I feel pretty whole?” It was strange. When the sun-lady said ‘one such as you’. It felt like a statement, snake-butt’s answer felt rude, even though her tone was neutral.

“You will find out soon enough Walker.” Sun-tits said placatingly, waving the issue away as if it were nothing.

And it was nothing. The issue fled from my mind as a leaf carried away by the wind.

“Fine.” I looked over at the women, and took a seat upon the marble throne. It was as uncomfortable as I had imagined, hard and cold to the touch. “You know my name. I don’t know yours. It’s rude not to introduce oneself.” I rested my head on my hand. I tried placing my elbow on the armrest, but couldn’t find a comfortable position. Still, I held it, no use in making myself look like a fool.

“Oh my, so forward.” The red lady said with a smirk, she had crept to the foot of the throne, looking up at me with what I could only call lust. “But I suppose it can do no harm. Or it will, such things are not easy to foretell.” She placed a hand on my leg, and I suppressed a shiver. The touch felt possessive, dirty. “You may call me Ate. Keep it close, or you might lose it.” She smirked.

The sunny lady was hesitating, but she finally met my eyes. “I cannot tell you my name as it is. It would cause imbalance.”

“Ate...” The name felt wrong somehow, as if saying it would bring misfortune just by uttering it, “has told me hers. Wouldn’t not telling me cause an imbalance?”

“I have already caused a shift just by being here. And clearing your mind, bringing you closer to this place, was stretching it.” She answered demurely. “Ate,” Her mouth twisted with disgust “put the scales back in balance by telling you her name. The only reason I am here at all is that I could not leave you to her whims.”

“I have no idea who you are. And giving me her name has not given me much of a clue as to who she is either.” I said, raising an eyebrow.

Ate seemed disappointed. “You should know who I am by my name alone, but I suppose this only makes it more interesting.” Her disappointment morphed into a sly grin.

“Whatever.” I said dismissively. “I want a name.”

The white woman looked down, then up and met my eyes once more. “Very well. You can call me Sunna.”

Ate writhed against my leg and threw her hands in the air in frustration. “That’s cheating! That’s not your name!”

“Sunna? I like it.” I said with a smile. The name felt right for her, even if Ate proclaimed that it did not belong to her. At least it was better than sun-tits.

Sunna returned my smile and sat down on on one of the armrests. “Now. I believe you are curious as to what you are doing here?”

I snorted. “Yeah? You tell me that I’m dead, or dying, and leave it at that. Now you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “There is still hope. I believe that Chrysalis did not intend for her... influence to do quite what it did.”

“Hardly!” Ate said with a cackle. “She wanted to make you fall for her!”

“Fall for her?” I was confused. “And she thought this was a good way to do it? With blood? How does that even work?”

“You heard her yourself.” Sunna said with a sad smile. “Assimilation can mean many things. Changeling blood is versatile in it’s ways. It allows for her to connect to whomever ingests it, or somehow has it mixed with their own.”

“The good part is that she can control the victim.” Ate said with a grin. “It can make them do just. what. she. wants.” She punctuated it with sliding a red finger down my leg. I shivered.

“If allowed to fully mix with the host’s blood, it could turn him or her into one of her kind. A changeling fully under her control.” Sunna was looking with disgust down at Ate’s actions. “But you are different. The blood would not mix with yours as it would with others.”

“So. She tried to take control. Then what?” I asked intrigued, and a little bit disgusted.

Ate grinned, and brought her hands together with a bang louder than should be possible. “Conflict! Your body is currently fighting the blood with all its dwindling power.” She giggled. “Soon you’ll be all mine.”

“Or you can return, and fight it with your will as much as your body.” Sunna interjected. “But you will have to choose.”

“Choose between what?”

“That’s simple. Allow her in.” Ate’s grin widened. “Or die.”

“Are there no alternatives?” I asked, shocked.

Sunna placed a hand on my shoulder. It was warm. “I am sorry, but she speaks the truth.” She scowled at Ate. “Surprisingly enough.”

“What will happen if I let her ‘in’?” I made air quotes with my hands.

Ate seemed ready to tell me, but Sunne silenced her with a look. “We cannot tell you. You will have to see for yourself.”

“If you should choose to die.” Ate said, running a hand up my leg. “You can come with me.” She bit her lower lip. “I’ll make sure you won’t regret it...” Her hand crept closer to my crotch.

“But he will not die.” Sunne said, swiping at Ate’s hand. “There is hope, but only should you choose life.”

Ate looked dismayed, but resigned as well.

“Fine. How do I get back? I’m ready to make my choice.” I rose from the throne, and the two women rose with me.

Ate grasped my face in a hand and fixed me with a sultry grin. “Like this.” She moved her face closer to mine, and just when her lips were about to touch mine, she twisted my head sharply to the side with a sickening snap.
	
> Chapter 10: In Her Nature
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chrysalis was not having a good day. The last few days had gotten progressively worse, and Walker’s harness was chafing worse than it ever had.

After she had taken hold of his mind, everything had been going downhill. She had expected that he would be radiating love for her. Instead he had been giving her nothing, not even the friendship that they had shared was there to feed her ever growing hunger. It was as if what she held was nothing more than an empty shell.

In fact, the entire ordeal with establishing the bond and link had been strange. When she started the process, his mind had been resisting. It had withstood her intrusion, even after she reinforced the changeling bloods influence with some of her own.

As with all her previous... victims, he had passed out as she began. But nothing happened when she tried to sink her mind into his. It was much like hammering at a wall made of diamonds. She could see the vague shape of his mind through it, but there was nothing but a dim haze.

Even biting him had felt wrong. Like she was doing something bad, as if the act was something she would regret. She had dismissed the thought and drank greedily. The small amount she had gained from the branch had done little to nothing for her, but she could feel her body getting to work with more success on the larger amount.

She then widened the wound slightly with her fangs, splitting the skin in a thin, but deep line. It did not bleed much more than it had before, but it would be enough. With a decisive bite, she pierced her own skin where the carapace was thin and held it over the wound, letting her own blood mix with his.

Yet nothing had changed. His mind was impenetrable, and his body resisted the blood just as much as it had that of the drone. The only change was a slight darkening of his nails.

Chrysalis had been about to give up, mentally ‘glaring’ at the metaphorical wall of his mind when something strange happened. A pair of yellow, serpentine eyes materialized on the other side of the wall, clear even in the haze. They winked, and then the wall fell.

When she got past the shock and confusion, she returned to her work and sunk back into Walker’s mind. Only to find it bare, it was as if there was nothing there but a shell. He was still breathing, so there was something left, but otherwise... nothing.

She sunk her metaphorical hooks into him nonetheless, and when his eyes had opened he seemed perfectly normal. Normal for someone under her influence anyhow, his eyes had a slightly greenish tinge to them, and he looked at her with an empty gaze.

Yet it was... eerie. When she had taken Shining Armor, there had been something there, a spark in his eyes. Here there was nothing. As if Walker’s very soul was... gone.

---

I awoke on my feet, which was strange in itself. For some reason I could not control my body, it was as if I was a passenger within my own mind, hammering at the door to the cockpit.

I was walking forward with a familiar weight on my back, and I could barely see the dark fuzzy outline of Chrysalis’ head on my shoulder. I wanted to turn and look at her, but I couldn’t move my eyes. All I could see was that she looked pale, but without being able to turn my head it was impossible to tell if that was a trick of the light or not.

The terrain around us was a frozen grey wasteland, telling me that we were at least a few days further east than we had been from... My memory felt hazy, and I had trouble recalling what had happened prior to my apparent blackout.

We were high up in a mountain range that I had barely been able to see on the horizon back ‘home’. I had considered trekking here before, but it never felt right.

In fact, before Chrysalis had fallen out of the sky my life had felt like it was on hold, as if I had been waiting for her arrival.

The light shining through the clouds told me that it was approaching twilight, and the already cold air was beginning to freeze. Yet I couldn’t do anything.

We walked through the night, at times wading through hip-deep snow. My body did not react to the cold, even though I could feel the muscles in my legs tightening in the freezing temperatures. I could feel the wear and tear, something I hadn’t felt in a very long time, but still my body pressed on.

I had no idea what Chrysalis’ state was, but I could feel a steady breath in the nape of my neck where her head rested.

The dawn brought little warmth, but even the weak rays of the morning sun felt wonderful on my body. I felt Chrysalis head stir as she lifted it off.

“Stop in the clearing.” She said weakly. Her voice was raspy, and I could feel her muscles quake beneath her skin at the mere effort of lifting her head.

“Yes mistress.” My voice said, surprising me greatly. Not far away was a small patch of brown grass where the wind had blown the snow away and the sun’s rays provided meagre warmth.

I - well, my body, gently lifted Chrysalis out of the harness and set her down on the somewhat warm ground. I would have cried out at the state of her if I could.

Her body was wilted and weak, her limbs like dry twigs. Her carapace looked dull and grayish, as if she had aged years since I last saw her. The once lustrous green of her hair had faded, and it lay limp against her head.

The sun shone through the skies, illuminating the small patch of dead grass, and I felt warmth wash over me. Chrysalis eyes cracked open and she looked up towards the sun with a crooked smile.

I wanted to pound on the ‘door’ to my mind, but there was nothing there. I wanted to reach out to her, but I couldn’t.

‘You’ll have to choose...’ The words appeared in my mind as if from nowhere. It wasn’t my own voice, but it was familiar. I couldn’t remember where I had heard the voice before, but snippets of a conversation appeared in my mind.

‘Allow her in. Or die’

‘I am sorry, but she speaks the truth.’

“Fine.” I thought. “And now what?” I don’t know if I expected an answer or not, but nothing came to mind. I tried harder to find some barrier to push against, something that I would have to break through to gain control of my mind once more. There was nothing, no definite thing that felt like it was resisting, I just had no way to influence my self.

I stopped trying to find hidden barriers and settled down to think. A vague memory surfaced once more, ‘Let her in.’ Maybe it wasn’t I that had to do anything, perhaps all I had to do was to open my mind, allow whatever was going on to happen.

I tried to relax. I imagined myself sitting inside a walled off room, brick walls on all sides, stopping anyone or anything from peering inside. One by one I imagined the walls crumbling away into nothingness, exposing myself to whatever lay outside.

For a few moments nothing happened, then, like a gate being opened, sensations flooded in. They threatened to overwhelm me, feelings of longing, loss, friendship and... love. But it felt wrong, as if they were foreign feelings overwriting my own. The friendship was already present, but the rest felt artificial. I had no choice but to accept, somehow knowing that resisting now would not end well.

I felt my body going limp, and I collapsed onto the wet grass with a thump. It felt as if my entire body was punishing me, every muscle and tendon clenching in a terrible cramp. Tears came to my eyes and I cried out in pain.

Chrysalis head shot up from the ground where she was resting. “Walker?” Her voice sounded hesitant. “Walker, what’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer, my entire body was screaming in pain.

From a little bit off to the side I heard Chrysalis get on her hooves with a grunt. If I had opened my eyes I would have seen her wobble awkwardly towards me. Another emotion was growing in my mind, another one to add to the list of feelings that were not my own; Hope.

A hard hoof poked me in the side and I managed to crack one eye open and look up at the bedraggled bug-pony standing over me.

“What’s going on?” She asked, it didn’t feel as if the question was directed at me. It was as if she had tried to talk to me before, and never gotten any real answers.

“Urgh...” I groaned. “My... everything... hurts...”

“What?” Chrysalis sounded surprised at my words. “What did you say?”

I glared up at her as menacingly as I could. “Hello... to... you.. too...” It came out as a sarcastic snarl.

Chrysalis looked even more confused, but I could feel the hope growing. She bent down and placed her horn against my forehead. I felt a brief surge of... something. When she removed her head she was staring at me wide-eyed.

“Y... you’re back...” Her face lit up in a happy grin. “You’re back!”

She then proceeded to throw herself at me in a full-body hug.

I screamed.

---

“I’m so sorry...” Chrysalis said and hung her head low. The worst of the cramps had passed, but I still felt more sore than I had ever before. “I had no idea this would happen.”

I groaned and pushed myself to a sitting position. “What... That what would happen?” I said weakly and looked into her eyes. She still looked, broken, but her skin was starting to return to it’s old luster, and her hair looked less like wilted grass.

“When I...” She stopped and looked down. “I don’t know what came over me. I should never have done what I did.”

“What did you do?” I asked and crawled over to her. I felt the need to comfort her, to hold her and say that it was going to be fine, that I forgave whatever she did. But it felt wrong. I took her in my arms and held her head close to my chest, but I kept my mouth closed.

I could feel my chest becoming damp, and sadness was flooding my mind.

“I... I tried to control you.” She said and crumpled against my chest. “I tried to subdue your mind. To take more from you than you gave freely.”

My grip on her tightened, anger and betrayal washed over me and I could feel Chrysalis wince as if I had struck her. The sight of her like that calmed me slightly, but I still felt betrayed.

“Why...” I said with a low voice. “Why would you do that?”

Chrysalis stayed silent for only a moment before she answered. “I don’t know...” The words came out in a whisper. “It just felt like I had to. That I had to try. Ever since you saved me, I’ve felt... I don’t know...”

I winced. If my theory was correct, I was feeling her emotions, and she could feel mine. It wasn’t precise, but I could discern what she felt almost like a scent. And what she felt towards me was love. Somehow she had fallen for me. I couldn’t help but snicker a bit at the literal implications of that.

My soft laugh made her look up at me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s fine.”I said and put a hand on her head. “I think I know what it is.”

“Then tell me!” She said with a scowl. “Because I don’t have the slightest.”

I smiled a bit sadly and got to my feet, letting her slide off me and get to her own. “What you’re feeling is love, Chrysalis.”

She stood on her own three hooves and looked up at me with a dumbfounded expression. “What?” She said flatly.

“You know, the butterflies in your stomach.” I saw her disgusted look and quickly added “That’s a metaphor” and rolled my eyes.

“That’s impossible.” She stated before plopping her plot down on the grass. “It makes no sense.” Her eyes flicked to me and she grimaced.

“What do you mean, impossible?” I was getting curious, again.

“Changelings do not feel love.” She stated with a tone that brokered no argument.

This confused me greatly. “Okay? Then, how does your societies survive? How do you procreate if you don’t love anyone?”

I must have grown a third nipple, on my forehead, because she looked at me as if I was the stupidest thing that had ever walked the face of this planet. She rolled her eyes and pointed at my crotch. “You take that,” she lifted her butt slightly off the grass and pointed at it, “and put it in there. You repeat the process, enjoyment and fun is had for all, and then foals are made.”

I blushed and facepalmed. “Right... got it... That is not, however, what I meant.”

Chrysalis giggled and rolled her eyes. At least she had been broken out of her funk for the moment. “Yes. But what I meant...” She sighed and looked up at me. “Is that changelings do not feel love like ponies do. We consume it.”

“You what?” I said, astounded. How in the world did that work?

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “I thought we had been over this? Changelings feed on emotions. I told you this days ago.”

“No?” I was a bit creeped out, but somehow it made sense. Neither she nor I had eaten anything since we set out on this quest towards god knows where, and I hadn’t even thought to question it. “No, you didn’t. How does that even work?”

She shrugged. “Magic.”

“Magic?”

She nodded. “Magic.”

“You can’t just say ‘magic’!” I said and threw my hands in the air. “That’s like the stupidest explanation in the history of stupid explanations.”

She lifted an eyebrow and regarded me with curiosity. “Very well then. Here’s what I know;” Chrysalis took a deep breath as if preparing a lengthy speech, “It’s magic. I have no idea how it works, it just does.”

“Gah!” I exclaimed and dragged a hand over my face. “Fine! Whatever. You feed on emotions, fine. That’s great!”

She grinned. “Yes, it is. Your frustration is delicious by the way.”

I scowled at her and sighed deeply. “Asshat.”

Her grin prevailed, then a thought seemed to hit her and she frowned. “How did you know what I was feeling?”

“How should I know? Ever since I ‘woke up’ and regained control of myself I’ve been feeling all these things that doesn’t feel like they’re my feelings.” I explained and sat down on the now somewhat dry grass. My pants were ruined anyway, so it didn’t matter that I was getting them wet. “And there’s nobody else around that I know of, so they must come from you. At least I think they do.” I scratched my head. “If not I’m going crazy. Which is not impossible.”

This seemed to confuse her. “But that’s impossible. You shouldn’t be able to sense that, not if you didn’t before.” She frowned deeper. “Could it be?”

“Could it be what?” I asked.

Chrysalis flushed and looked away, cheeks red. “When I tried to gain control... I bit you and absorbed some of your blood. I also mixed some of mine with yours. It should only have strengthened my influence, but nothing happened.” She looked up at me with a thoughtful expression. “It could be a delayed reaction.”

“You... drank my blood?” I cringed, but remembered that she had told me about the whole blood deal after I had caught her licking some of the branch that had impaled me. “You know, you could just have asked. Instead of betraying my trust like that.”

She winced, and I could feel her regret. “I don’t know entirely why I did it. Doing it felt wrong, and then...” She shrank a bit. “And then you disappeared. I couldn’t gain control over you, but all of a sudden all the resistance was gone.”

I felt... I didn’t quite know what I felt. It wasn’t exactly a regular occurrence that a friend of mine tried to mind-control me for her own gain. A story I had once heard came to mind, I couldn’t place it.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you for what you did, but I can feel that you regret it.” I said calmly and walked over to her, picking up the staff that lay at the edge of the clearing. “It’s like the scorpion and the tortoise.”

“Huh? What does that have to do with anything?” She asked, thoroughly befuddled.

“It’s a story I once heard.” I said while preparing the harness. “It goes something like this;

A scorpion sat at the edge of a stream wondering how he would get across to the other side. He could not swim, and it was too deep to wade over.

A tortoise walked over to the edge of the stream and prepared himself to swim. 

‘Wait!’ yelled the scorpion and approached the tortoise. ‘I must get to the other side, and I cannot swim’ he said.

The tortoise slowly turned to the scorpion and frowned. ‘I could, but you are a scorpion and would sting me, and I would drown.’

‘Why would I sting you? I would drown as well.’ The scorpion said.

‘Very well, that does make sense. Climb on top of my shell, and I will swim you to the other bank.’

The scorpion did, and soon they were in the middle of the stream. Suddenly the tortoise felt a sting on his neck, and his vision began to darken. ‘Why did you sting me?’ he asked. ‘Now we will both drown.’

‘It is in my nature.’”

I finished my story as Chrysalis climbed into the harness, and I hefted her onto my back. “It was only in your nature.”

Chrysalis had gone silent, but I could almost hear the gears turning in her mind. “Are you afraid that I will sting you again?” She muttered and placed her head back on its normal resting spot on my shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow and looked over at her. “Will you?”

She sighed and looked out over the snow-filled landscape. “I don’t know.”

I shrugged the straps into a more comfortable position and began walking. “Then don’t.”

“I’ll try.” Chrysalis suddenly grinned. “No promises though.”

“If you want to walk the rest of the way, that’s fine with me.” I grumbled and stepped out onto the snow. It was cold, and my feet were bare, but I could bear it.

She giggled and nuzzled my neck. “Not at all. Now, talk to me about this love I supposedly have for you.” I could feel expectation and curiosity radiating from her when she was this close, it felt utterly bizarre.

“I don’t know what to tell you. I think it’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.” I said and tried to plot a course that would take us out of the mountains and into the warmth of the forest stretching out from the mountain’s foot and into the horizon.

“It is strange.” She said. “I have taken love from so many, and yet I have no idea what it’s like to feel it myself.” Something seemed to occur to her. “You don’t love me, do you?”

For some reason I couldn’t answer right away. Maybe it was the strange mix of emotions coming from her, love, but there was no sadness, no expectation. “No. You’re my friend, that’s as far as it goes.”

To my surprise she laughed. She breathed into my ear sensually and I shivered. “We’ll have to do something about that.”

I frowned. “Don’t.”

“Oh, and why not?” She was still grinning. “Am I not pretty enough for you?”

“You’re not even my species!” I rubbed my temple with a hand, and shivered again as I felt Chrysalis rub her muzzle against it affectionately.

“I could do something about that.” She said with a smirk.

---
> Chapter 11: Toward Greener Pastures
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“... And due to these crimes against the people of glorious France, your sentence will be...” The voice of the ‘judge’ exclaimed as he stood on the raised wooden platform, gazing over the sea of people.

The crowd grew silent, still for once, holding its collective breath to hear the sentence for my alleged crimes.

“Death by Guillotine!” The ‘judge’ proclaimed loudly, grinning like a madman as the crowd went wild with cheering. “Viva la revolución!”

Two men were holding me fast, my hands tied behind my back with crude rope. “Why?! Why do you do this? I am nothing but a watch-maker! What have I done to deserve this!” I cried over the din and clamour. “I sold my clocks to everyone! I donated to the poor! I never...” My voice was silenced by one of the men giving me a solid punch to the jaw.

“Silence. The people have spoken.” The man said with a grin.

My head hung low, I could see my wife standing in the crowd, wearing some old clothes the servants had left behind. Clutching her leg was our son, little Daniel, only five years old and soon to grow up without his father.

I had tried to bar the doors, to stop the crowd from looting my workshop, but they had barged in anyways, shouting something about a revolution.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the wooden planks of the platform. “You are lucky, I could have thrown you to the crowd. At least it will be quick.” The ‘judge’ said and motioned for the men to follow.

They began dragging my limp body towards the contraption on the other end of the platform. It was a large wooden machine of death, two poles supporting a large blade hanging over a split version of a simple pillory, allowing the blade to go all the way down while restricting the prisoner.

The top half was lifted and my head shoved inside before it was clamped down hard, not choking me, but tight enough that I could not pull out.

“Why? What have I done to deserve this?” I said as loud as I could, coughing as the men tightened it some more.

A face came into my vision, the smirking visage of my ‘judge’, a man whom I had often seen in my shop, wearing different women on his arm every day. “Oh, nothing special.” He said in a tone low enough not to carry. “I just don’t like your face, and...” He looked out at the roaring mass of people. “It’s such a crowd pleaser, don’t lose your head now.” The man snickered and rose so I could see nothing but the soles of his feet and a wicker-basket beneath me.

“What do you say?!” He yelled over the gathered crowd. “Is it time?”

“YES!” The people yelled. “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!”

“So be it!” The ‘judge’ responded and tugged at a rope.

There was an unsettling ‘snickt’ sound, and then the world spun as my head tumbled into the bucket.

I tried to curse the man, curse the crowd for their stupidity, but all I could do was move my mouth and roll my eyes as the world quickly faded.





“Hey, I was wondering. Why did you pack food and not eat any of it?” Chrysalis asked and poked the small bag I had tied to the back of my staff. We had been walking for two weeks since the ‘assimilation’ incident, and she had been gathering strength, in other words sleeping, for most of them. “Do you even need to eat?”

“Well.” I began, then hesitated and scratched my beard. It had grown well down to my chest by now, and was far beyond ‘dirty hobo’ and travelling into ‘dirty wizard who needs a bath’-territory by now.. “I don’t know, haven’t really thought about it.”

“Why did you pack food then?” She asked as we went through the motions of loosening up the harness tying her to my back. It was getting dark, and we had settled beneath a small outcropping that shielded us from the biting wind. “By now it must have gone bad?”

“Habit I guess. Though I can’t say for sure if I ever needed to eat.” I set her gently down on the dry ground and slid the bag off the staff. The bags contents were spoiled, but the cold must have kept the mold in check, in fact everything was frozen solid. “Huh, didn’t think it was that cold up here...” 

“Not that cold? I’ve been comp... telling you that it’s freezing for the last week!” Chrysalis said and curled up close to my legs and put her head in my lap. “If you hadn’t been so warm I’d be an ice-queen by now.” It was true, when I thought about it, the weather had deteriorated dramatically during the last two weeks. Every step I had taken ever after we had decided to follow the old road up into the mountains had been a fight against what was at times several feet of snow.

The old road had wound and snaked itself around most of the peaks, and at the foot of the mountain spring was setting in. No such luck up here. By the road there had been a few ruins, old guard-outposts as far as I could tell, but the few documents we had found had either been chewed on or faded to illegibility. Not that either of us could read what they said, to me it looked like squiggles with the occasional symbol, and Chrysalis didn’t know the language. At least she could tell me that it was written in old-griff, the language of the Griffons over five hundred years ago. Something that she didn’t seem very happy with.

“The griffons and the changelings have never been on good terms...” She had said while we sat in the sun outside, resting our... my weary legs. At least the places we had seen were abandoned, and we hadn’t seen any Griffons either, though I had kept an eye on the sky after that.

“Well,” I said and patted her on the head “gotta stay frosty.” That earned me a good hit to the knee, and a small snort of amusement.

“But seriously, even I have to eat something. Even if it’s just your emotions that keep me going” She looked up at me with a thoughtful expression. “Even Celestia eats, even if it’s mostly cake.”

“Celestia?” The name sounded familiar somehow, but not... right. “Who’s that?”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow in confusion, but realization quickly dawned on her. “Right, of course you don’t know. She’s the ruling princess of Equestria. Co-ruler these days I think, if her sister has taken on her duties again.”

I was confused. Princesses that ruled? “I thought a King or Queen would rule? I mean, you’re a Queen, sort of.”

My companion didn’t seem to like the comment, and her face fell slightly. It worried me that she didn’t retort immediately, usually such a quip would earn me much the same in return. Instead she just shrugged and stayed silent.

I frowned, this wasn’t like her. Sure, she had been less crass and easier to handle ever since the ‘little incident’ two weeks ago, though I attributed that to us being able to slightly sense each others emotions. All I felt from her now was sadness, and a strange longing, and in the background was that ember of love. I decided to let the matter drop, we would have plenty of time to converse later, unless of course she decided to sleep the entire day again.

She had told me that while I was ‘away’, she had lost much of her strength. I, well, my body had been more of a vacuum than a source of nourishment, even my blood had been good for nothing.

Chrysalis had attempted to change into something else, a bipedal form that would allow her to at least walk on her own. Not human, she told me that would have to wait until she got the combination right, or something of the sort. She didn’t quite understand the process herself, she would just know when the time was right.

The effort had left her panting and exhausted on the ground, barely able to stay conscious long enough for me to hoist her onto my back.

“Help!”

Both of us jerked awake at the sudden ‘sound’.

“What was that?” I jumped to my feet, inadvertently throwing the still groggy Chrysalis out of my lap.

Her eyes rolled a bit as her head smacked into the stone of the floor, but she got on her hooves and hobbled over to where I stood looking into the darkness. “What was what?” She grumbled. “That wasn’t you?”

I shushed her and scouted down the slope of the mountain, nothing. The night was completely silent, even the wind had calmed down to nothing but a gentle breeze stirring the snow.

We were a few days travel from getting down on the other side of the mountain, and our shelter was right beneath the top of the pass. All we could see was back the way we had come, lit only by the sliver of moon high above.

“Help!” Something yelled again, it was weak, as if coming from far away. With a shock I realized that I wasn’t hearing it, there was no sound, just a distinct impression in my mind of something frightened and afraid.

Chrysalis’ eyes widened as well, her mouth gaping. “It’s alive! Someone is alive!” Her shocked expression changed into one of joy, and I could feel her entire being lighting up with emotion.

“What? What is alive? Why am I hearing a voice in my head?” I asked, trying to somehow figure out where a voice in my head could possibly come from, I couldn’t discern any direction at all.

“You’re hearing it too?” She stared up at me, her eyes still wide and a grin plastered on her face. “It’s a changeling! It’s alive!”

“It doesn’t sound like it’ll stay that way. Where is it coming from?” I readied the harness, and Chrysalis practically jumped into it and onto my back. “We can discuss the how later. Do you know where it’s coming from?”

“Yes! It’s coming from the other side of the mountain, and downwards.” She sounded excited, something I could understand, she just got confirmation that her race wasn’t dead. “I don’t know exactly, but it’s that way! Come on!” She pointed towards the crest of the pass, and I started pushing through the snow as fast as I could.

As we pushed towards the top, the snow only became thicker. At the top I had to push through powdery snow that went all the way to my chest, impeding our progress towards the increasingly desperate cries for help.

The desperation in the mental voice made me push through the snow as fast as I could, ignoring the weariness that slowly mounted. My muscles cried out in pain as I almost swam through the snow, something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

We crested the top only ten minutes later, and the view became breathtaking even in the dim moonlight. On the other side of the mountain was a vast green valley dotted with clumps of trees and huge fields of green. And buildings. What seemed like a small settlement with farmsteads in a circle around it.

To my surprise parts of the old road was lit, and several of the farms seemed to be lit by lanterns. I could see no activity from where I stood, but with it being night that wasn’t as surprising as the very presence of light.

“Why did we stop?” Chrysalis asked, her hoof digging painfully into my shoulder. “It’s just a settlement, we’ve got to find the changeling!”

I snapped out of my gawking and started scanning the hillside for any sign of life.

“There!” My passenger cried and pointed a holed hoof towards a small light not too far away from us. The light was bobbing slightly, like a lantern on the end of a pole, and in the pool of light I could see several figures standing in a circle around what looked like a large pile of rubble. “Go!”

The other side of the mountain had significantly less snow, and as soon as I could I broke into a sprint even though my muscles cried for me to stop.

There was a brief flash of green on my back, and for a split second I felt the heat of fire upon my body. It wasn’t very hot, but it surprised me enough that I stumbled, almost falling on my face at high speeds. The surprise of fire was nothing compared to my surprise when a brown hoof tightened around my neck and the squeal of fright from someone I didn’t know.

“Watch your step!” The pony on my back shouted as we nearly tumbled over the steep side of the path. “Run!”

I could do nothing but quench my surprise, a part of my mind knew it had to be Chrysalis, another insisted that someone had just knocked her off and replaced her with someone else. It wasn’t until a brown stump slapped me in the head that I fully snapped out of it and sped up once more.

“What the hell!” I yelled, weaving deftly around what had once been a watchtower, now fallen across the road like so much rubble. “Chrysalis?!”

“I don’t want them to recognize me.” She answered, her voice sounded different, slightly deeper but still female. “We’re close, slow down.”

I slowed to a jog, and then stopped fully as we came to a bend in the road. From around the bend we could see a light and several shadows crossing it. Whatever was on the other side had wings, and beaks?

“Griffins...” Chrysalis hissed in a low tone. “It just had to be griffins.”

“Come out. We’re not gonna hurt ya.” A low, gravelly voice said from around the bend. The owner didn’t seem to have noticed us yet, and I could hear others chuckling. Whoever had the changeling cornered was definitely not sincere in its promise of no harm.

“Yeah. We just wanna ask ya some questions, yeah?” Another voice said, its voice as insincere as the first.

I almost didn’t dare to breathe, it was purely a miracle that they hadn’t heard our haphazard sprint down the road. On my back I could feel Chrysalis, or whatever pony she had disguised herself as, tense. This close to the source, we could feel the fear radiating out from the trapped changeling.

“What are you doing?” Chrysalis whispered harshly as I began making my way forward. “They can’t get to him, don’t do anything stupid.”

“I can’t take that risk. If this is the last changeling, besides you, then we need to make sure it’s safe.” My hands were tightly wound around the staff. I wasn’t sure I would have to use it, or if it would hold in a fight, who knew what weaponry the griffins could have, or if they needed them. If my memory served, griffins had eagle talons, and from their shadows they seemed to be fairly large. It didn’t help that I couldn’t tell how many there were. I could handle myself in a fight against maybe two or three, but if there were more... Well, it was no use in wasting time thinking about it.

I walked around the bend, staff at the ready.

My guess was wrong. There were way more than two or three of them. Eight griffins with white and brown feathers were standing with their backs to us, facing what seemed like an... igloo? Nestled into a crook in the road was a pile of rocks fashioned into a small dome, and one of the griffins had its head stuck into a hole that had to be the only entrance, or exit.

All of the griffins were wearing armor. Golden plates were fastened to their body with leather straps, and on their heads were helmets crested with red feathers. Legionnaires, or at least guards of some sort.

This was most likely a guard patrol of some sort that had happened upon the unfortunate changelings domicile and decided to investigate.

I cleared my throat and stomped the staff on the cobbled ground. “Excuse me?” I said as loudly as I dared.

All of the griffins turned towards us in surprise. No doubt unhappy about being snuck up on. The griffin who had stuck his head into the hole eyed me warily They all did, but there was something else about this one, his feathers were tipped with black, and around his eyes there were splotches of color that I couldn’t quite make out in the dim light, he carried an air of authority, the leader I surmised.

“What?” His eyes roamed over my body, confusion clear in his eyes at my appearance. They stopped briefly on Chrysalis, strapped to my back as she was it must have looked rather strange. “What are you doing here Minotaur. These lands are closed to your kind.”

Minotaur? Okay? I was confused, but I could understand the misconception. Beside the lack of horns or a bulls head, I supposed that I looked close enough to one, at least in the dark.

“Just passing through.” I answered, trying to keep my voice calm. “What’s going on here?”

“Yeah!” Piped Chrysalis from my back. “I’d like to know that as well!”

“That is none of your business. Pony or not, we must ask you to leave.” The leader said and took a step towards us, two of his guards falling in at his sides.

“Leave where? We can’t go back?” Chrysalis said. “We nearly died just by going through the pass!”

The griffins in the back nodded and murmured their agreement. “You can pass through the valley, just don’t get in our way.” The leader said and gestured to his squad to make room for us to pass.

“I’m afraid we can’t leave yet.” I said and widened my stance slightly, not removing the staff from the ground. “We’d like to know why you’re here first.”

The griffin’s eyes narrowed. “I am Decanus Aetius. This is our territory. Which makes you trespassers, unless you have papers stating differently.”

While his posture remained relaxed, I could see the others tensing slightly at my change in posture.

“We are merely travellers. We heard a cry for help, and decided to investigate.” I said and pointed the staff towards the piled up rocks, the griffins flinched at the movement. Chrysalis groaned and put a hoof to her face, while the Decanus only smiled.

“Did you now?” He raised a talon to his chin, his smile widening slightly. “It must be my lucky day.”

Now it was my turn to be confused. “How come?”

The griffin chuckled and turned to his men. “Take them into custody. I believe they’re not what they seem to be.”

Two of the armored griffins began walking towards us, their wings flaring slightly, casting long shadows towards us. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” One of them growled and pulled out a length of rope from beneath his armor. “Come with us, and you will not be harmed.”

I gripped the staff harder in my hands and pointed it at the one who had talked. “I don’t think so.” I growled back.

The two griffins grinned darkly. “As you wish.” Then they hurled themselves towards us, their wings flapping hard as they rose slightly above the ground.

My staff whirled and smacked the first in the face, the harsh sound of metal meeting beak ringing through the air as he hit the ground hard. The other managed to avoid my swing, his talon raking along my arm, tearing three deep gashes that almost immediately began to close up.

A green bolt of magic slammed into the second griffin’s chest just as he passed and I could hear him tumble out of the air and smack limply against the road.

The six griffons that still stood gawked at us, before letting out shrill cries and launching themselves towards us. Three of them took to the air, the other two charged low. Only the Decanus held his ground.

The two that charged reached us first, my swing bounced off their armored forelegs, one of them landing a vicious slash on my ribs.

“Oh shit.” I swore and managed to land a blow at the base of the wing of the one still in front. “Keep an eye on the air!” A flash of green and a thump of armored flesh hitting the road was all I got in response. Four to go.

The leader stood still, silently gauging the situation. Why he didn’t join in the brawl was beyond me, but I managed to thump one of the griffins on the head hard enough to take it down.

One of the griffins came in low from behind and cut through the straps holding Chrysalis to my back. She fell off with a soft cry of pain but managed to stun the griffon before he could take the opportunity to hurt her

The two griffins that had remained airborne were coming out of a steep climb and were approaching me with their claws ready to strike. 

One of them managed to grab my staff when I tried to strike him and tore it from my grip. The other slammed into me, cracking more than a few ribs as he crushed me to the ground. He immediately began tearing into my flesh with his talons, his hind legs keeping me down in a crushing grip. One swipe and my face made half my world go blank, and I screamed in pain as I felt something wet dribble down my torn up face.

I barely heard the thump behind me as the griffin who had disarmed me used the staff to knock out Chrysalis.

The griffin on my chest grabbed a handful of my beard and yanked my head up painfully. “Do you yield?” He roared in my face. All I could do was spit in his face. I was rewarded with my head being slammed hard into the ground, sending stars floating in my limited vision.

My hands were still free, so I reached up and closed my fingers around his throat as hard as I could. My opponent let go of my beard and began clawing at my arms to no avail, I would not let go. His eyes bulged slightly as I crushed his neck with as much force as I could muster, his face starting to go blue.

Something hard impacted my skull, and the world swam away in a swirl of stars and red mist.





“Awaken, young Walker.”

I jerked and opened my eyes, still feeling woozy. I was lying in a large open plain of grass that ran endlessly in every direction, only interrupted by what looked like a red haze on the horizon. Above me was a clear star filled sky and a moon much larger than I had ever seen. Despite this everything was illuminated as in the middle of the day.

My head was still ringing, so I put a hand to the back of my head expecting it to feel wet with blood.

“Relax. Thou art merely asleep.” Said a female voice coming from somewhere to my right. I turned to see a blue haired woman in a rather modest dark blue dress with a crescent moon motif on the hips.

I slowly got to my feet, surprised that I didn’t fall over. “Who are you? I’m asleep? What?” I didn’t have time to be asleep, there was a fight going on.

“Do not worry. Thou art not in peril. Neither are thine... companions.” The woman answered with a thin smile, dismay obvious in her voice.

“Companions? Does that mean the changeling is safe?” I asked, rubbing my curiously short hair and stubble-free chin. “Who are you, and what’s with the ye olde english?”

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards in amusement. “You are not harmed, neither are your companions. They are safe... for now at least.” Every trace of the old-timey speech was gone from her voice, replaced by modern english. “As for mine name...” Except a few lilts I noticed, as if she were not used to speaking like this. “You may call me Máni. It is not my name, but it is close enough. I believe thou know mine sister.”

“Máni... Why does that sound familiar?” The name rung a bell, something I knew about from long ago. “And your sister? I believe I’d remember meeting the sister of such a beauty as yourself.” I smiled at her, she was indeed beautiful. Tall and slender, and there was something enticing about her modest dress. Something in the back of my head was certain that she looked somewhat familiar, as if I had indeed met someone much like her, though my mind insisted that this familiarity did not extend to their fashion choices.

She rolled her eyes at my flirting, but her smile did look slightly more genuine. “I can not tell you. In fact, should you remember me when you wake or meet my sister again I implore that you do not mention our meeting.” Máni sighed and her face fell slightly. “Something about... meddling, tipping scales.”

I scratched my head and shrugged. “Eh, I have no idea who you’re talking about anyway, but sure. I’ll keep your ‘meddling’ secret.” I winked at her and grinned. “So, I am asleep? What’s with the boring landscape? I assumed that my dreams would be more... exciting maybe.”

Máni rolled her eyes once more and waved her hand. The landscape melted, only to be replaced by a small study. The walls were lined with large bookcases filled with books and scrolls. On the floor was a blue rug with a strange, but beautiful pattern of the night sky. One wall was occupied with a large fireplace that crackled merrily and gave off a pleasant heat. In front of it stood two high-backed chairs with red silk upholstery. Between them stood a small table with two steaming cups of tea. We stood behind the chairs, and she moved to take a seat. “Better? ‘Tis naught but a template, we are in your mind after all. You may change it to your liking, but I ask that you do not, we have much to talk about.”

“This works.” I said and took a seat in the chair opposite hers, relishing the warmth flowing from the fireplace. “May I?” I gestured to the cup nearest to me. She nodded and took up her own cup, taking a sip. I mirrored her gesture, it was just tea. A rather good tea, but just tea.

“This is a most wonderful blend.” The blue haired woman said with a sigh. “Before you ask, it is taken from your memories. Not mine. I find that letting the dreamers mind pick the flavour gives me a chance to taste something new.” She scrunched up her nose as if at a bad memory. “‘Tis not always wise...”

I sipped the tea and put it down. It was familiar, but I couldn’t for the life of me place where I had tasted it before. “Huh. I can’t remember this tea.”

She smirked. “You would not. It is from your past, it will return in time.” Her empty cup clinked slightly as she placed it back on the plate.

“So...” I said and placed my legs on a footrest that hadn’t been there a second earlier. “You wanted to talk?” This had to be the most boring dream I had ever had which involved a woman. I wondered what this said about my psyche.

The woman leaned forward and clasped her hands beneath her chin. “Yes. Our time is limited, but there should be time. I wish to ask of your plans now that you have reached... civilisation.”

I shrugged and leaned back in my chair. It was rather comfortable, and after so many years in the wild it felt extremely good. “I don’t know. To be honest I have no idea where we are, or what’s going to happen. All I’ve done is walk towards the sunrise every day.” I sighed as I felt some of the tension in my back slacken. “I’ve just assumed that it was east, and that some day I’d probably hit some sort of settlement or something.”

Máni frowned. “You do not know your purpose here?”

I raised an eyebrow and peered over at the now reclining woman. “Purpose? I’ve been walking across this god-forsaken planet for what? 40 years or so? I have no bloody idea darling.”

Her frown deepened and she steepled her fingers in front of her face. “That is rather unfortunate, but it is not my place to tell you.”

“I’m not looking for a purpose.” I said with a shrug. “I just want to help Chryssie find her own people if there are any left. Besides the one we just found that is.”

“Chryssie?” Máni snickered. “Do you mean Chrysalis? The changeling ‘Queen’?”

“Yep. We found one, should be more, right?” I closed my eyes and relaxed even more. “The whole changeling thing is weird though.” I chuckled and yawned. How in the world could I feel tired in a dream? “Did you know that she tried to take over my mind? Heh. that was awkward.”

“She did so indeed. Were you not warned? Should you not be furious at her?”

I cracked open an eye and looked over at her, she was still relaxed, no tension in her body at all as she sipped at her tea.. “What would that accomplish? It didn’t work, and I know she’s sorry.”

“How do you know that she is sincere? It could be a trick.”

I chuckled. “That’s the weirdest thing. I can feel it. After the whole ordeal I can sense her emotions. It ain’t strong, but I know they’re not mine.” My mouth curled into a smirk. “Apparently she’s in love with me. Weirdest thing ever.”

Máni did a spit-take, her tea going in an almost perfect arc to the floor. “What? That’s impossible!”

“You sound just like her. Told you it was weird.”

“It is indeed.” She said and dabbed at her mouth with a handkerchief. For a moment her form blurred into that of a blue horse with wings and a horn, but changed back so fast that I wasn’t sure it had even happened. “Changelings are incapable of feeling love. It is physically impossible.”

I just shrugged. “I have no idea. We’re not even the same species. No matter what she says about being able to remedy that.”

“Quite. It is strange. And yourself, do you reciprocate this infatuation of hers?”

I remained silent for a minute, trying to imagine what it would be like to be in a romantic relationship with my chitinous friend. “No. I don’t think so. We’re friends, sure, but that’s as far as it goes.” I frowned. “She’s beautiful, in an exotic way, and I trust her not to violate my mind again Maybe someday I’ll feel the same, but not now.” My hands clenched. “It would just be too weird.”

Máni smirked. “Love is blind.”

I scoffed. “Sure, but I’m not. I’ve only known her for two and a half weeks.” My hands relaxed and I fell back into the chair. “I’m sure it’ll pass. Maybe we’ll find a nice changeling she can love instead of me. I don’t want her to love me just because I saved her back then.”

“I’m sure she has her reasons. You are quite charming, in a rugged sort of way.” Máni said and placed her empty cup back on the table. “Changelings do not love, but somehow she feels love towards you. It is... strange.”

The world around us began to fade, and I sat up abruptly. “What’s going on?” I asked, getting to my feet as the walls began to shimmer and become translucent..

“It seems our time is up. ‘Twas interesting to meet you, Walker.” Máni said and got up from her chair, which promptly vanished.

“Sure, whatever. You sure talked a lot for being a figment of my imagination. I expected... less clothes involved, more sweat and grunts too.” I said with a resigned sigh. I wouldn’t have minded seeing what was behind that dress, it hinted at shapes in all the right places.

Máni only smirked, before she too disappeared, followed shortly by the world. 
> Chapter 12: Chains and Changelings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Life, it happens to all of us, and then we die. Well, most of us do.

So far I had been ‘lucky’, it had been a little over forty years since my arrival, and as far as I could tell I had not aged a day.

I had taken refuge in what had once been a church of some sort, at least it looked like one. It had once had a beautiful vaulted ceiling, and there were remnants of stone pews lined up in rows pointed towards a broken altar. What surprised me was that there were no religious symbols anywhere, none that I recognised anyhow.

The wooden doors to the entrance had long since rotted away, only rusted metal was evident where the hinges once were. Behind the altar there had once been stained glass windows, but only shards of coloured glass were left, some still in their frames but most of it on the tiled floor.

The church itself was the only building left standing in what I assumed had once been a small town. Stone walls and crumbled foundations were all that was left sticking out of the lush vegetation covering the forest floor.

I had often taken refuge in places like these, despite the lingering creepiness of such ghost towns. There were times when I had become tired of my endless walking, and tried to settle down, sometimes for years at a time until a strong wanderlust once more descended upon me.

I had even tried to rebuild some of the houses, just to try to find a reason to settle down properly, but the loneliness was often the biggest reason why I left. Even before I got the urge to walk once more, I had left places I had tried to make into a home due to the crushing feeling of not having anyone around me.

The staff clattered noisily to the ground as I slid down to the ground along the wall behind the altar. At least parts of the roof were still present, giving me shelter from the pouring rain outside.

It was still rather early in the morning when… something happened. The ground shifted and changed, a sweet smell started permeating the air. It smelled almost like chocolate. I tried lifting my hand from the floor, but found that it was stuck to it.

The smell of sweets and sugar became stronger, and I noticed that the floor had become rock-candy, sticking me to the floor like a fly on a half melted lollypop.

Suddenly the light of the overcast day outside disappeared and the rain stopped. It was almost as if it had become night in an instant. Then the light was back for only a moment before it once more disappeared.

A laugh rolled through the air as I tried to get loose.

“Hello?” I called out, as much in hope as in fear. Maybe someone was there? Someone to talk to? I’d take anything I got, just to talk to someone again.

No one answered. The world had become silent. Not even the sounds of the forest were present. It was completely and utterly quiet. Eerily so.

Something slithered behind me, just out of sight as I tried to move my head against the gooey rock sticking to my hair.

“Is there anyone there? Please!” I was so caught up in the thought of someone else being present, that the fact that I had become stuck to what had once been solid stone was only barely registering in my mind.

“Such a shame…” A voice whispered, barely heard even in the dead silence of the church. It was almost as if I was imagining it. “... llowed to interfere. How boring…”

Then everything went back to normal. Well, the sounds of the forest once more appeared in a rush of noise that was almost overwhelming even in the relative shelter of the ruinous church, and I was no longer stuck to the floor and wall.
My hands and hair weren’t even feeling sticky. It was almost as if I had imagined it, in fact I almost managed to convince myself of that until the light suddenly changed once more, scaring me out of my wits.

Once I dared venture outside, I saw that the sun and the moon were switching places in no conceivable pattern. It was utterly confusing, and it scared me.

Thinking that it might be this place, it being cursed or something like that; I grabbed my staff and ran, never looking back.

Once I reached the edge of the forest, almost a full day after I began, the world returned to normalcy. The sun was about to set. This nightmare of a day was finally over, and I collapsed against a tree.

I wanted to look back at the forest, now more lively than when I had entered, but I didn’t. The animals were probably as confused as I was after that. Instead I settled down, resting the staff over my knees, and fell asleep.


---
“It’s coming to.” A voice on the edge of my hearing announced. It sounded male and unfamiliar.

I remained still, feeling cold iron against my wrists and cold stone against my backside. For some reason I felt alone. With a slight start I realized that the feeling was the lack of the empathetic link I somehow shared with Chrysalis. It was a feeling I had grown so used to over the last few weeks that its absence felt alien and cold.

“We know you’re awake, creature. No reason for these theatrics.” Another voice announced, this one was more familiar. It was the voice of the leader of the griffins. Decanus something. I warily opened my eyes and was greeted by the cold interior of a cell.

It seemed to be underground. The walls were slightly damp, and a grated opening high up on a wall on the wall opposite the cell showed me the underside of a hedge or something like that.

Outside my cell stood three gryphons, all decked out in armor, and only one was recognizable as the leader I had met previously.

“What do you want.” I grumbled and coughed, the damp air was thick and uncomfortable.

“You’re under arrest for the assault on my troops.” The gryphon in charge sighed and inspected one of his talons. “Three of which are hospitalized with minor wounds, and one suffering from a crushed windpipe. The accusations levelled against you are quite severe, so I recommend that you cooperate.”

I chuckled and tested the chains that bound me to the wall. “Ask what you wish. I’m pretty sure you won’t be satisfied with my answers anyway.” The chains were quite sturdy, and there was no give when I tried to pull on them. “What’s with the chains? Afraid I’ll somehow crush your little cell-doors and escape with my super-strength?”

The Decanus smiled in a way that made my spine tingle. “It is merely a precaution. The only people we have seen like you are the minotaurs, and they are quite strong. We can only assume that you are some sort of hybrid.”

I spit into the dust on the floor, it didn’t even have the decency to whirl. It was too damp. “I’m no hybrid of anything.”

“Maybe not. But I somehow do not believe that you are able to listen in on the changelings hive-mind naturally. In fact we would like to ask you a couple of questions about your… companion.” He smirked at my scowl. “Don’t worry, we’re taking care of her as we speak. She’s not a threat to us, not like you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, worried about my friend. “If you do anything to her…” The thread rang emptily through the cell as I pulled as hard as I could on the chains with little effect.

He chuckled and tsk’ed. “We have our methods. After their little… incident in Equestria they are not so much a threat to us. As soon as we get her to drop her disguise and talk, we’ll let her go.”

I sneered. “I don’t believe you.”

The gryphon shrugged. “Didn’t expect that you would, but it is the truth. Provided…” He let the sentence unfinished.

“Provided what?” I asked, for some reason I couldn’t feel any real malice from him. It was with another shock that I realised that I could actually feel him. He was putting on an air of bravado, but I could feel uncertainty and some fear. When I turned to his companions I realised that I could feel them too, all they had was malice towards me, anger that I hurt their friends.

“Provided that she cooperates of course. We don’t kill people without reason.” He answered. “But their queen is wanted dead or alive by the ponies.” The last part was said with a sneer, and I felt a flare of disgust. This guy certainly had no love for the ponies. “Her location would be very valuable to us. Or even just a confirmation of her demise would be good enough.”

I couldn’t tell them that the pony they were currently interrogating was the one they were looking for, and after his statement I could only hope that Chrysalis was strong enough to withstand whatever technique they were using on her. “Their queen?” I said with as straight a face as I could muster, pulling the chains to distract them from my widened eyes.

“Yes. I believe she goes by the name of Chrysalis.” He answered without taking his eyes off me. “But you already knew that, didn’t you.” It wasn’t as much a question as a statement.

The chains rattled, but the nail, or whatever actually fastened it to the wall held. “You’re assuming an awful lot.” I said with a frown, trying to sell the lie. “I didn’t even know they had a queen. For all I know, they could be following a damn coconut.” It wasn’t too far from the truth, Chrysalis could be kinda thick.

The gryphon sighed and turned to leave. “If you don’t know, then maybe one of your other friends know. We have… methods for extracting whatever knowledge people hide.” He nodded to the two guards, and together they began walking towards what I assumed was the exit. “We will be back for you in the morning. I suggest you get some rest, you’ll need it.”

With that he was gone, and I was left alone in the dimly lit, damp cell.

---

It didn’t take long before I started getting bored, pulling and yanking on the chain obviously didn’t do anything, and I didn’t have much leeway to move. I could barely lie down on my stomach as the chains held my arms out behind me, it was uncomfortable as hell, and the only sound in the dungeon was the slow drip of water from somewhere I couldn’t see.

Around an hour later I felt something. It was as if something uncomfortable was pressed against my back, even if I knew there was nothing there. A few seconds later it flared with pain, and I heard a scream in my mind. It felt familiar, all too familiar.

They were torturing Chrysalis. I quickly got to my feet, and started pulling as hard as I could against the restraints. They didn’t budge. Then a second flare of pain came, this time higher on my back near the neck, again accompanied by a scream. It was louder this time, and I imagined that I could hear it coming from outside as well.

“No!” I yelled and set my feet against the wall, bracing as hard as I could before pulling again. My arms screamed in pain, but I felt something start to give. I pulled harder, sweat beginning to run down my face and chest as I pulled. With a painful ‘pop’ my left arm dislocated, causing me to yell out in pain. I ignored it as best as I could and continued pulling.

I was rewarded by the crunching sound of stone against stone, and with a final effort something came loose. Unfortunately for me, it was the entire slab of stone the chains were moored to. It fell right on my legs, and I felt something crunch that was not the stone.

I nearly passed out from the intense pain of the stone crushing my legs. The only positive thing was that it made me completely forget about the dislocated shoulder. With a monumental effort I managed to haul the heavy rock off my poor legs and straighten them out before me.

My arm was the first to pop back into its socket with a sickening snap as it righted itself. The legs were broken in several places from the stone falling on them, but I could feel whatever it was that took care of my body working its magic.

It took almost thirty minutes for my legs to knit themselves back together, and during that time different points on my body flared with pain as some gryphon undoubtedly tried to pry information out of Chrysalis. The other changeling didn’t give out any feelings at all, so I had no idea of it’s condition or location. Even my direct link to Chrysalis didn’t indicate any location.

While my legs worked on putting themselves together, I began trying to figure out just how exactly I was going to get out of the cell itself…

---

Meanwhile, Chrysalis was splayed out on a wooden rack, legs bound with straps to each corner. It would have disgusted her that the straps were leather, but at the moment she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Namely the griffon standing above her with a piece of glowing hot iron held uncomfortably close to her hoof-stump.

“Now. We don’t usually do this to our prisoners.” A female gryphon said as she sipped at something hot in a cup. “But, you’ve been extraordinarily uncooperative, and to be honest… changelings are still free grounds due to your recent… activities.”

Chrysalis sneered at the gryphoness, she was a Queen, she didn’t fear what the gryphons could do. Right? They had already prodded her with a knife, but the friendly love she had soaked up from Walker made sure that none of the wounds were permanent. If they kept it up for long… that was another matter.

“Now. What we want is the same thing we wanted ten minutes ago, when you so gently pulled the feathers out of the neck of the nice officer that tried asking nicely.” She paused and set the cup down on a small table, apparently brought in solely so that she could set her drink down on it. “Where is your queen, the rest of the hive, and which positions have your kind infiltrated in our society?”

Chrysalis smiled pleasantly and laid her head back to stare into the whitewashed stone ceiling. “How would I know? I’m just a lowly drone, noling tells me anything. Well, except who to feed ooAAAAH!” The sentence was cut off with a scream as the other gryphon pressed the white-hot metal to her stump.

The gryphoness, the interrogator, sighed sadly and wafted a small paper fan in front of her beak to fan away the smell of singed hair. “We know that’s not true.” She lied, they had no idea really. “Why would a lowly drone travel with such an interesting specimen as your friend downstair?”

Chrysalis tensed the muscles that had just relaxed from the pain and scowled at the female. “What did you do to him?!”

The gryphoness rolled her eyes and waved a claw dismissively. “Oh, nothing.” She grinned “Yet. If you tell us what we want to know… We’ll let you both go.” She walked over to the table Chrysalis was stretched out on and put a finger on the straps. “And don’t think about escaping, these straps are quite sturdy. We held a minotaur for over a week here while his friends were wreaking havoc in the capital.” It was true, it had turned out to be a dead end, and the paperwork afterwards still gave her headaches when she thought about it.

“What about the other changeling?” Chrysalis asked, concern leaking into her voice even though she tried to suppress it. He was quite possibly the only changeling left alive besides herself, and if something happened…

“Oh, nothing bad. It’s down there” she pointed in a vague direction down at the floor “somewhere. Don’t worry about it, we’ll have time for it soon enough.”

The gryphoness smiled unnervingly and lowered her claw unto Chrysalis’ furry leg. “Now, are you going to be a nice changeling, or are Crawford here going to have to… persuade you some more?”

“Buck you.” Chrysalis snarled and snapped at the torturer.

“Thought not. Crawford, if you please?”

---

I flinched as another spike of pain ran through my mind. It was stronger this time, but it helped me focus on my task. My legs were free and fixed, and all that stood between me and relative freedom was the prison bars.

They seemed sturdy, but the dungeon was damp, and I imagined that the rock might have become slightly porous around the bars.

Another thing was that my arms were still fixed to the manacles, and a short chain led them to the now loose piece of rock. It only took me a few moments to realize that the griffons had inadvertently given me the tools I needed to escape, as well as a weapon.

The rock was heavy, but I managed to lift it. I would have to smash it to be able to move freely, but as long as it held I would have a weapon with fair reach and able to do some damage to anyone in my way. As long as not all of them came at me at once.

I hefted the rock and began slowly spinning inside the small cell. The rock barely avoided the walls as I wound up, and with a heave I sent it into the steel bars.

The sound made me wince, but the results spoke for themselves; two of the bars were at least a foot wedged out of their original position. There had been a surprising lack of ringing when I hit, but the clamour would undoubtedly attract attention if I didn’t get this done quickly.

If there had been a door I’d try aiming for the lock, but there wasn’t, which surprised me. Maybe there was some other way to open it that was for the guards only to know. Another smash, two more bars out of place.

On the third hit something in the roof gave, and the bent bars fell to the floor with another loud clang, this time ringing quite a bit. The hole was barely wide enough for me to squeeze through, but I managed to get out.

Immediately as my legs left the hole I heard something rattle in the wooden door at the end of the hall. Within a short moment the door was unlocked and a single griffon stepped through, looking somewhat bored.

I didn’t give her, don’t ask me how I figured that out, a chance to notice me properly before I charged. Just before she opened her beak to scream, the rock impacted on the side of her head. It crunched, and down she went, something clattered to the floor.

Her body slumped to the floor, the side of her head a bloody mess, but she was breathing. I raised the rock to finish her off, but I stopped myself. Something was off. She wasn’t wearing armour.

What had clattered to the ground was a plate of food, and my heart skipped a beat. She had only been coming down with food, and I almost killed her. In fact, she might still die.

No. I couldn’t think like that, I only did what I had to. She was in my way, and would have alerted the guards if I hadn’t. Why they weren’t already coming was beyond me. I hadn’t exactly been quiet in my escape.

Something clanged from the cell right next to the door, making me jump. Inside the cell was a small black creature, covered head to toe… hoof, in chitinous plates.

Its eyes were a uniform blue, no iris but for a slight lighting of the blue towards the center. Even so, it was unmistakably staring at me.

This had to be the changeling Chrysalis and me had set out to find.

The cell it was in was the same as mine, but I could see that the bars were a fair bit more rusted at the bottom, as well as covered in small dents that reminded me of tooth marks. For some reason the changeling wasn’t in chains. With a glance I confirmed that the cell did in fact have manacles, smaller than mine, but they were still there.

“All right. Move back from the bars. I’ll get you out of there.” I said and began swinging the stone around once more. 

The changeling’s eyes widened, but it didn’t move away, instead it waved its forelegs in the air and tried to get my attention. What came out of its mouth wasn’t speech, but a loud chittering, something between a bird and the squeal of an insect.

‘STOP!’

I hadn’t heard it with my ears, but rather a voice inside my head, clearly male. It made me flinch, and I stumbled, sending the rock into the wall on the side instead of the walls with a crunch.

And there went my weapon, the stone cracked down the middle, and all I was left with was a long pin welded to a plate somewhere in the middle of the stone itself. No wonder I couldn’t just pull it out. I couldn’t help but wonder how they had gotten the plate into seemingly solid stone, but the indignant changeling staring at me was a bit more pressing.

“Well, there went our only weapon…” I muttered and returned the stare. “And the only way to get you out of the cell.”

The changeling chittered in a way that felt insulting, and accompanying it was a very low murmur at the back of my head. When I didn’t show any immediate recognition of what it was trying to convey, its irritation only grew.

It beckoned me towards it with a holed hoof and gestured for me to show it my hand. With some trepidation I stuck my right hand through the bars, which was a little tricky considering that I was wearing rather thick manacles.

I almost flinched away when the changeling pressed its head against my hand, but I kept it still, curious as to what it wanted. Ear scratches? My fingers grazed its horn, and a jolt went up my arm, much like touching a wire connected to a car battery.

‘Hello?’ the voice in my head said, making me jump and retract my hand. The changeling growled in frustration and I smiled sheepishly before putting my hand back on its head.

‘You can hear us, good. There are six levers right outside the door, one for each cell. Pull the one with the number six, and our cell will open.’ He, it was very clearly a he, if the voice was to be believed. He didn’t offer any explanation as to how he was able to talk to me in my head, but another jolt of pain, somewhat muffled this time, reminded me that we were short on time.

“Alright, wait here.” I said and looked past the unconscious gryphon on the floor to the door, it was still wide open. Behind the door was a small room, made of stone as the rest, but with a wooden stairway going up one end of it.

Along the wall right on the inside was indeed a row of levers, all clearly labeled with roman numerals. The gryphon was now resting against the wall inside the small room after I had very carefully moved her. Her breathing was still even, and the blood had stopped flowing from her headwound, something I took as a good sign.

The levers were simple wooden poles that lead to what I assumed was some sort of locking mechanism deeper inside the walls. I could barely spy some metal cogs behind as they caught the flickering torchlight in the room.

I pulled the lever marked VI, it felt well oiled and immediately a rush of clicking and whirring was heard from inside the wall. From the hallway I came from the sound of metal sliding against stone sounded, and when I peeked inside I saw that the bars in front of the changeling’s cell was slowly disappearing into the roof.

Moments later I was joined by a relieved looking changeling, and it chittered more cheerfully at me before trotting over to the unconscious gryphon. He prodded her, but got no response beside her sliding a bit against the wall.

I walked over to them and crouched down. “Do you think she’ll be okay?” I asked with concern. “I think I hit her rather hard.

My companion shrugged and motioned for me to put my hand on his horn once again.

‘She’s breathing steadily, she will survive. More than that we cannot tell, we are not doctors.’ He said with another shrug.

“We?” I asked, feeling a bit confused.

‘Ye… no, it is not correct. It is only I. Not used to being alone.’  He shivered a bit at the thought. ‘I...’ It felt as if he was testing the word out. ‘I have… always been part of Us. It is unsettling to be apart, to be… individual.’

His words sounded sad, but a particularly vicious jolt of pain from what I was sure had to be Chrysalis pulled my thoughts away as I clutched my head with a wince.

The changeling looked at me strangely, as if to ask what was going on.

“I… I think they’re… torturing Chrysalis.” I sighed in relief as the pain faded, and the scream disappeared into oblivion. The changeling’s reaction told me that the scream was not audible, why he was unable to feel it himself was rather strange. Both Chrysalis and I had heard his plea for help back on the mountain.

The changeling sneered and spit something on the floor in contempt before beckoning me to touch his horn.

‘Let them.’ He said with vehemence that shocked me, wasn’t this his Queen we were talking about?

“What? Why?” I said, incredulous, feeling some anger start bubbling towards the surface. “She’s your Queen!”

The changeling growled deeply and flashed his sharp teeth and fangs at me before replying. ‘Yes, and she is responsible for our extinction!’

I had no reply to that. What he said felt wrong, and I wanted to dispute it, but Chrysalis had never told me why the changelings were in the state they were.

“How? How can she be responsible for the near extinction of her own race?” I put emphasis on ‘near’, because I knew of at least two specimens still very much alive, for the moment at least.

‘She convinced the council that attacking the CAPITAL CITY of the most powerful nation in the WORLD was a great idea!’ He was growling audibly as he ‘talked’, some chittering expletives that I didn’t understand coming out in a steady stream. ‘Challenge the ones that move the sun and the moon? That must be easier than say… infiltrating them, or just just gathering from the outlying villages. And see where it got us!’ He visibly deflated some, his entire body sagging as his eyes began to water. ‘Now our entire race is dead, save her and I...’

I put my other hand on his withers and lifted his chin up with the other hand formerly on his horn.

“Look. I understand how this is a difficult situation. Chrysalis has been beside herself with guilt since I found her.” His eyes hardened at my statement. “But you’re alive, who’s to say that you two are the only ones? There could be more of you out there, just you surviving shows us that there’s a chance.” Another scream and a mild jolt of pain ran through my mind. “Chrysalis is my friend, and right now she’s being tortured. If you ever want to confront her about your feelings, you must help me save her.” I smiled gently and rose back to my full height.

“So, what do you say? Save her and get some closure, or run away, never to know her point of view?”

The changeling seemed to struggle with his thoughts for a moment before he looked up at me, eyes hard with determination. He nodded, and with a flash of green fire he had been replaced by an exact replica of the gryphon on the floor.

“You’re right, whatever you are. Let’s go save the Queen.” He… she? said, voice tinged with venom. “I will beat the answers from her myself if I must.”
> Chapter 13: Into the Rain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stairs, roughly cut stone from the look of it, lead us to what I assumed to be the first floor. A solid wooden door stood in our way. At eyeheight, there were bars inlaid into it, letting me get a look into another hallway. It seemed to be devoid of gryphons, so I carefully nudged the door open, hoping that the hinges were oiled.

It opened with minimal noise, and the two of us slipped into the hallway, the changeling’s new claws clicking against the floor. I noticed that a ring of keys were hanging from the other side, presumably from the, hopefully, unconscious gryphon downstairs.

“Sloppy…” My companion growled, the noise sending shivers up my spine. It sounded leonine, a reminder of the chilling roar Chrysalis had used to scare away the ravens.

“Yeah. You’d think they’d teach them better than this.” I replied. “I mean, it’s convenient, very convenient.”

“Almost too convenient.” He said, peering at the closed door in the middle of the hallway. “It could be a trap.”

“Or just a lazy servant.” I shrugged, but held the chains tighter even so.

It seemed that we were in luck, nobody stopped us on our somewhat aimless trek through the dungeons. They consisted mostly of hallway upon hallway of cells, some with better conditions, some with worse. From what I could gather we had been placed in the deepest part of the dungeon, as the air was getting fresher by the minute.

“Damn, how big is this place?” I muttered as we carefully opened a door into another nearly identical hallway.

My companion scowled down the hall, scanning it as he had done with all the previous ones. “We should be nearing the interrogation cells.” Was his only reply, he was obviously not much of a talker, which was somewhat of a jarring shift from Chrysalis’ nearly endless talking. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, I’d probably enjoy his somewhat stoic silence and directness. However, right now it only made me feel tense.

“How fa…” I was stopped by a punch to the leg, not hard, but enough to make me fall silent. The changeling-turned-gryphon pointed at the door at the other end. It was rustling, as if someone was working the lock. I would never have heard the keys rustle due to the thick door, but he obviously did.

We weren’t far from the other side, and with a quick glance at each other we took up position on both sides of the door, me holding the chain to keep it quiet, and him walking on his ‘palms’.

The door opened, and out walked two golden-armored gryphons. “... been down there a while. Think she’s seducing one of’em again?” The one on the right said with a grin.

“No telling with that one.” The other replied with a chuckle. “She’d do anything that’s willing.”

They both laughed as they moved down the hallway, not looking back and leaving the door open. My friend and I held our breaths until they were far enough away that we could sneak through the door while they laughed about the gryphoness doing it with the ‘monkey’.

“Damn…” I whispered, letting my breath out on the other side of the door. “That was close.”





Chrysalis was unconscious. A particularly vicious attempt at making her drop the disguise had finally pushed her into her own mind.

Luckily enough for her, being unconscious didn’t mean that her disguise would evaporate, countless years of experience and ‘training’ had made sure she’d be able to hold it until she took her last breath if she so wished.

“This is degrading…” She muttered to herself as she sat in the darkness. She didn’t usually dream, but she treasured the few times she did. It was also unusual that she was aware of herself dreaming. Normally Chrysalis would just know of the dream like a fond memory when she awoke.

The darkness around her was constant, nothing but shadows in every direction. Yet she could see herself when she lifted a hoof to her face. In her dream she was whole, all hooves present and her wings buzzed on command when she flexed them.

When she looked down she saw that she sat on a barely lit piece of hardwood flooring, which was strange, but it was a dream after all.

With a sigh, the Queen rose and began walking. It wasn’t often she dreamt, and even though the circumstances dictated that she should do her best to wake up, she couldn’t help but feel curious as to what this one would offer her.

It appeared that her dreamscape was a relatively small room, and when she neared a wall, the faint luminescence surrounding her would crawl slightly up it. The soft light revealed that the walls were stone, rough hewn yet reflective.

The distorted image they showed her of herself revealed that she was whole and healthy, no sign of her scars or damages were shown. Not that she could get a proper look, as the image was faceted in the stone and the darkness didn’t really allow for much.

She sighed again and followed the walls around, looking for an exit, a door, or anything she could use to move out of the room.

There were none. Chrysalis looked upwards into the darkness, there was no roof as far as she could see, and with her restored wings she reasoned that maybe up was a way to go.

Her guess was right, but she nevertheless regretted her decision to leave the ground. The darkness around her was absolute, and it was with a growing sense of trepidation that she noticed that her sense of up and down had gone out the metaphorical window.

There was no wind, no air resistance, no light. Nothing to tell her whether she was rising or falling, only the sense that she had to keep flapping her wings or fall.

Tentatively she tried to stop flapping, and her body immediately told her that she was going to fall to her death, yet nothing really happened. She opened her eyes, not realizing that she had closed them in the first place, to find that everything around her had changed.

Chrysalis looked in awe at the sprawling city around her, ponies bustling in the streets going wherever it was ponies went at a time like this.

“Hello?” She tried to stop one of the ponies, a yellow earth pony with a peculiar hat on his head, yet he didn’t give any sign of having seen her. He just continued on as if nothing had happened, as if there hadn’t been a hoof in front of him.

She tried again, and again, yet none of them noticed her at all. They just passed straight through her, as if she was a ghost.

It was eerily quiet as well, there was no sound except for the wind and the rushed clopping of hooves on pavement.

“There you are.”

Chrysalis nearly screamed in fright when two figures landed in front of her. One was a white pegasus mare with a pink mane, clasped tightly in her legs was a smaller blue unicorn. Both were scowling at her, but they quickly broke into grins when they saw her state.

The Queen’s heart was pounding wildly, and she couldn’t help but stare at the new arrivals with her jaw hanging.

“Y-you!” She screamed and bolted in the other direction, bowling over ponies left and right as she ran for her life. The sudden solidity of them not quite registering in her panicked mind.

Her mad scramble was interrupted when a red hoof shot out in front of her, sending her tumbling head over hooves into a fruit cart filled to the brim with fresh produce.

“Now now.” The red pony said as she stepped out from the alleyway. “No need to run? It’s just a dream, nobody can hurt you but yourself here.”

Chrysalis stared up at the pony from beneath a cabbage that had impaled itself on her horn. The voice was smooth, almost like a purr as the red alicorn stepped into the light. There was something inherently wrong with the pony, like her visage was merely a poorly constructed disguise.

“We just want a… friendly chat, is all.” The red pony purred. Her eyes were slitted, Chrysalis noticed, and her horn curved unnaturally away from her forehead.

The two ponies from before came running hurriedly to the scene, the white pony obviously trying not to laugh at the changeling that was half buried in a pile of produce.

“Ate…” The blue pony said with a scowl. “You know that visage was not what we agreed upon.”

In response the Alicorn shrugged and looked down her nose at the unicorn. “What do I care. What is done is done.”

“You…” Chrysalis said, her voice quivering and her eyes wide with fear. “Don’t kill me!” She squeaked and tried to hide behind… nothing. The cart was gone, so was the city. Instead they were in a sitting room oddly reminiscent of one she had been in before…

“Why would we kill you?” The white one said calmly. “If we wanted you dead, you would be.”

Chrysalis shivered at her tone, it was conversational, yet… assuring and threatening at the same time.

“We merely thought it was time we had a talk.”





With a thump the last of the guards went down in a heap. We had stumbled upon a storage room where I had found my staff and Chrysalis’ harness, and immediately after we had been set upon by a trio of armed gryphons.

“Whoo…” I exclaimed and wiped some sweat from my brow. “That was awesome! Where did you learn to fight like that?”

My friend leveled his gaze on me and my grin fell. “Where do you think.” He answered shortly as he wiped his talons on one of the guard’s jerkin. “All changelings receive combat training before we’re allowed out of the hive.”

I admittedly felt a bit foolish, not about the combat training stuff, more that he had taken down two of the gryphons on his own, and I only got one that he already held in a headlock. It was very satisfying to thump the guard on the head with my stick, but I wished I could have done more.

“Right. And I need to figure out how to use this… sooner rather than later.” I said and balanced the staff on a finger. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to… you know… train me?”

“No.” He said as he pushed the bodies into the storage room and closed the door.

“Why not?”

He rolled his eyes and looked me up and down. “You’re bipedal, I am not. No training I could give would help you.”

“Sure it would!” I said and pointed the stick at him. “I just need someone to partner with. To figure out how to fight someone on four legs.”

“Fine.” He grumbled and continued on down the hallway.

It didn’t take long before he stopped me and signed for me to stay silent. He pressed an ear to the door we were standing in front of, and I could hear voices from behind it. I quietly joined him and listened.

“...wake up?!” A shrill female voice cried and something hit the floor. “What do you mean you can’t wake her up?”

“She’s out cold, ma’am.” Another voice answered, this one male. “We need to let her be for now. When they reach this state it is no use trying to continue.”

The woman grumbled something I couldn’t hear before she spoke up. “Fine. Take her to a cell and make sure the chains are tight. We don’t want her comfortable yet.”

Before we could react, the door opened inwards, making me stumble into the room like an idiot.

The smell hit me first. There was an irony scent to the air, and something I couldn’t quite identify… until I saw the scene.

On a table, Chrysalis lay sprawled, her legs tied into a position that surely would have broken the legs of any normal equine. Her body was riddled with scars, and one last wound was slowly closing before my eyes.

Two gryphons were in the room. One was immaculately clean and dressed in what I assumed was officer’s garb. The other was naked but for an apron that was more green than white with blood.

For a moment all of us stood frozen, and luckily the changeling reacted first. With a shrill cry he launched himself into the room at the female officer, claws ready to tear her to pieces.

I barely reacted in time as the other one reached for me, and I managed to slap his claws away before they reached me. With a quick, hard, hit to the head he went down in a heap.

The fight between the changeling and the officer was not going too well. She was obviously better trained than the guards, and even my friend who had seemed so confident was having a hard time fighting back.

There was little I could do to help, instead I hurried over to the table and began to unstrap the unconscious Chrysalis. How she had managed to hold her disguise for so long was beyond me, but she had, and that was what mattered.

I carefully lifted her into my arms and looked over to the two gryphons still fighting. Feathers and blood was flying everywhere, and yet it seemed like my friend was slowly gaining the upper hand.

With quick steps I walked over to the other door in the room and glanced out. Another hallway, but I could see doors to the outside on the end, the only hindrance was the two guards holding a sour-looking minotaur in chains while another was filling out paperwork by a desk.

They didn’t react to the sound we were making, and seemed completely oblivious to the racket going on inside.

I looked back, and saw that the officer was finally out cold on the floor, blood seeping from long gashes in her uniform. My friend wasn’t in a much better state, his disguise seemed to burn where the cuts were, and it seemed close to failing.

He was breathing hard when he sidled up to me and glanced at the Queen cradled in my arms with some pity. “Let’s go.” 

I stopped him with a hand and gestured to the door. “There’s an exit there, but also more guards.” He slumped slightly. “They have a prisoner, a minotaur.”

The disguised changeling suddenly lit up with a grin. “A minotaur? Oh, this is going to be fun.”

He steeled himself, and with a whoosh of flame his wounds disappeared and a uniform materialized on his body. “Stay here for a moment. Let’s let this one handle itself.”

With that he stepped into the hallway and pointed at the minotaur. “Hey you!” He yelled before pointing at the gryphon by the desk. “He told me last night that your mother was an ork and your father smells like he likes it!”

The other gryphons’ eyes widened as the minotaur’s face became red. “WHAT?!” He turned to the one by the desk “YOU DARE INSULT MY FATHER?!”

The resulting brawl was… rather swift. The minotaur flexed and ripped the chains off himself and charged the gryphon by the desk that had gotten a rather perplexed expression on his face. The minotaur’s giant fist connected with the side of his head, and the gryphon went sailing through a window and out into the street. The two others tried to restrain him with obvious trouble, and he grabbed their heads and smashed them together with a crash before he ran into the street.

With the successful diversion in motion the three of us carefully sneaked out into the dusk and away from the streets.





We didn’t stop before we were well outside the city limits. It wasn’t a very big city, but we didn’t stop to rest before we found a dilapidated barn not too far out of town.

The barn smelled like rotten wood and moldy hay, but it was shelter, and it didn’t look like anyone had been there for years. Either that, or the gryphons didn’t care much about the state of their buildings. Nevertheless, the roof was whole.

I laid Chrysalis carefully down on a dry, mostly whole bale and sat down heavily. It had began to rain not too long after our escape, which helped us get away unnoticed, but ended up with us being soaked to the bone in freezing water.

Luckily it didn’t bother me too much, but both the unconscious Chrysalis and the changeling were shivering, even though he had changed into a pony to be less conspicuous.. With a sigh I lifted the Queen into my lap and cradled her against myself, trying to get some heat into her soaked fur.

“W-what now…” The changeling that had helped me escape asked. “They’re bound to find us once the r-rain lets up.” His teeth clattered as he hugged himself tightly.

“Hopefully we’ll be far away by then…” I answered while stroking Chrysalis’ wet mane. “I think I saw a forest somewhere to the east, we can probably hide in there.”

The changeling’s eyes widened. “But that’s… that’s the Everfree! We’ll have better luck with the gryphons!”

I beckoned him over, and he hesitantly approached me. “We’ll be fine. Now come here, you’re freezing.” I wrapped an arm about him and pulled him close. He was cold alright, I could feel him shivering against me as he hesitantly leaned against me while carefully avoiding Chrysalis.

“If you say so…” He said and yawned. “But I don’t trust her.” He was looking down on Chrysalis with a frown, she had began to breathe more evenly after the escape, and it seemed like she was sleeping instead of being unconscious. “Why hasn’t she awakened yet? She should be hardier than this.”

“I don’t know.” I answered while feeling her pulse. “She seems fine. Her scars are nearly gone, except those around her stump.”

“What happened to her leg?”

“She lost it when she fell out of the sky.” I ran a hand over the stump, remembering the mangled leg still in my cave somewhere far to the west. “She was in pretty bad shape for a while. I’ve had to carry her for the last… I don’t know, it’s been a while.”

The changeling snorted and rolled his eyes. “That’s crap. She should have been able to regrow it within a week, provided enough nutrition.”

I glanced down at the tri-legged pegasus in my lap with a frown. “Well, she hasn’t. And I don’t mind carrying her really.” I snickered. “She’s like a big, snarky backpack that doesn’t know when to shut up.”

“That doesn’t sound much like her…” The changeling said softly. “She has always been an insufferable bitch.” I raised an eyebrow. “Never knew when to call it quits. If she wasn’t the queen…” He grimaced.

“Maybe the fall knocked some sense into her.” I murmured and ran a hand through her mane. “She might be brash, but she’s not bad.”

“Not bad? She single-hoofedly managed to screw up a mission that should have gone smoothly, simply because she got greedy!” He snarled, then he sighed and looked down. “If she’d been willing to negotiate with the ponies, nothing of this would have happened in the first place. Our race wouldn’t be extinct, or close to it, and I…” He snorted. “I could have stayed where I was.”

“Where was that?” I asked.

His eyes dimmed slightly and he looked away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Alright.”

It was getting late, and we were both tired. He was beginning to warm up slightly and about to fall asleep when I remembered something.

“Hey.” I addressed him with a nudge.

“Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

“Name?” For a moment he seemed somewhat confused.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t… You can call me Rift.”

“Nice to meet you, Rift. I’m Walker.”

“I know.”

“Huh…”

Then we both drifted off into slumber, lulled to sleep by the sound of rain against the old barn.