“I really need to stop getting myself into these situations….”  Trotter Grey whispered to himself.

Trotter stood in the center of a webbed covered hall staring face to face with a horde of enraged changelings.  It was at this time three thoughts entered his head.  One: that the mass of bug-like creatures all looked the same and he wondered how they told each other apart.  Two: maybe exploring through the changeling capital in the Badlands was a bad idea and he shouldn’t have stolen their sacred orb or whatever it was.  And three: how his first thought sounded kind of racist and he shouldn’t say that out loud.

“Okay…”  Trotter called out to the horde that was slowly closing in on him.  He had to say this so his voice would echo over the violent buzzing of the mass.  Trotter smirked, “I know…uh, I know this looks bad, but-uh….heh?”

Trotter was completely surrounded by changelings, everywhere he looked he could see the glowing blue eyes of these terrifying creatures.  There must have been at least fifty of the buggers.  A few of the changelings were up in the air, getting a good view of blood-bath that was about to occur.  Over the sound of their buzzing wings Trotter could hear the sound of mocking, childlike laughter.

He looked around for an exit, there was always an exit, there was always a way out.  The hall or whatever he was currently trapped in looked like spacious cavern that was covered in an obsidian black spider web.  The webbing covered everything from the stalactites above to the jagged rocky floor.  This webbing on the floor made his hooves stick to it with each step he took, making it very difficult to escape from the changelings and leaving a black covering over his hooves.  There was also only one light source which illuminated from Trotter’s horn, though sadly this spell only created a good twelve foot radius of light.  Not only did this make it hard to find an exit, but it also gave the mass of changelings a collection atrocious shadows and made the webbing give off an eerie black shine.

And then if it couldn’t get any worse, there was the smell that filled air.  It smelt of burning brimstone and spoiled milk which caused a churning in his stomach.  It put a foul taste in his mouth that made him want to show the changelings what he had for lunch.

Trotter finally looked back to horde of changelings which were about to overwhelm him.  He was out of options, he had to say something.

“I know this looks bad, but before you do anything I think you made my friend pretty upset!”

Trotter pointed his hoof to a random place behind the changelings and almost perfectly the entire group of changelings simultaneously looked to where he pointed.  There was nothing there and when they looked back to spot where their prey once stood they found that he was no longer there.  He had completely vanished into thin air

“Hahaha!  I can’t believe that worked!”  

As Trotter galloped down the tunnel, the treasures in his saddle bag jingling with every step he took, he looked back at the direction he ran from and laughed at the echoing of angry changelings.  Though, that joy didn’t last long as the familiar sound of buzzing wings returned.  Trotter looked up at his horn and frowned.  He had forgotten to turn off his light spell when he teleported away.  There was also the sound of his hooves lifting off the sticky surface of the floor and the sound of the jingling from his large bags.

            “Balls…”  Trotter muttered bitterly under his breath.  

Trotter looked back to where he was running and skidded to a stop.  He had nearly galloped into the wall of the cave.  Trotter quickly looked to his left and right to see his options, but of course it was a dead end…it wouldn’t be fair if it wasn’t.

Trotter sighed.  His hooves felt like they were going to fall off, it hadn’t been easy galloping across the sticky surface of the cave.  The entire endeavor had left him exhausted and out of breath.  He slowly turned around to face the buzzing horde of changelings that grew dangerously closer with each passing moment.

He somberly shook his head, “So much for my great escape.”  He smiled softly, “Heh, this might actually be it…balls, I never even got me a girl to go home to.  I never even got a home to go to.  Sash would be so disappointed in me.”  Trotter quickly looked up with a new spark in his eyes.  “Oh yeah…”  Trotter said quietly, slowly remembering Sash.  “I can’t give up now, Sash is still waiting for me.  I can’t leave that idiot alone in place like this.  Heh, he might flirt with some poor changeling. Ha!”  Trotter licked his lips and looked at the approaching changeling horde.  He looked around his surroundings for something he could use.  There were always the stalactites which he could cause to fall on them, but then again he could cause a cave in.  He did have a few offensive spells, though against fifty the odds were against him.  He couldn’t fight his way out of this that quickly became apparent, he would have to trick them again.  He rapidly looked around his surroundings again, hoping his answer would magically appear.  “Okay…I can do this.”  Trotter looked back to the changelings.  They were so close to him that he could feel the hatred and bloodlust seep out of them.  “Okay, what do I do?  What…what do I do?”  Trotter turned his gaze from the changelings to the edge of his light.  That’s when the idea hit him like brick to face.  “Okay, okay…I need time this right.”  Trotter stomped his hooves down and got into a battle stance.  He looked up at his horn and gave it a confident smile, “Ready old friend?  I just need one more favor.”

Trotter’s eyes widened, broadening his senses.  At that moment everything seemed to go in slow motion.  The changelings finally came into the vicinity of his light.  They were moving fast, so fast that a cloud of dust had formed around the mass of hooves stampeding toward him.  They bared their fangs and hissed and shouted at him.  They wanted blood.  Even with all of this happening, they still seemed like they were moving in slow motion and Trotter could see every single movement they made.

Okay…eleven feet…ten feet…nine feet…eight feet…

“NOW!”  Trotter yelled.  He stomped his hoof down and the light from his horn beamed out, it was as though Celestia herself was casting the spell.  Living in such a dark place the changelings had rarely seen a light this bright.  The entire horde seemed jump back at it, more from fear of it than actually getting blinded by it.  They looked like dominos as they jump back and tripped over each other.  Trotter smirked, but he bit his tongue to prevent from laughing too hard.  His plan had worked more perfectly than he could have ever hoped.

He quickly jumped forward toward the pile of changelings and disappeared into a flash of light.  In another flash of light he reappeared on the other side of the collapsed pile of changelings and started down the hall.  As he galloped down the hall he looked back at the changelings and laughed at them.

“I guess I’ll be seeing myself out then!”

But before he could actually run away a few of the changelings from the collapsed pile had flown up to avoid the collision.  The best word that came to mind was pissed.  Trotter let out a gulp and counted them.

One…two…three….four...five of the ugly creatures.

He smirked once more, he could take five of them of easily.  He stomped his right hoof and a red glow surrounded his horn.  It didn’t take long for the first changeling come charging down at him.  Trotter quickly dodged the changeling causing him to crash into the rock floor and skid a crossed it.

He didn’t take time to admire his dodge, he needed to stay focused on the four changelings that were still there.  Another two of them came down towards him, this time their horns glowing with greenish fire that lit up the dark cave.  Three green fire bolts came shooting out of their horns and at Trotter.  He managed to duck and dodge one of them, the two however he wouldn’t be able to dodge.  He needed to think quickly, if he didn’t then he would be fried.  With another quick red glow of his horn he flashed away way with a quick teleport.  When he came out of it he skidded to stop and hit the wall to his left.  With another glow of his horn he shot a red flare at one the changelings that fired upon him.  The changeling got singed by the flare and scampered in the air.  It didn’t take long from it to lose control and fly into the other changeling that shot at him causing them both to crash into the wall.

The last two changelings landed on the stone floor in front the pile of their collapsed brothers and sisters.  They hissed and bore their fangs at him, their wings flapped furiously but they stayed on the ground.  The one to the left that was slightly taller than the other one took a step forward, its horn glowing with the familiar green fire.

“Before you do that, you might want to make sure you and your friend there are ready to fight me and brother there behind you!”  Trotter mocked.

The two changelings quickly looked behind themselves, a look of shock covering their faces.  Once again they had fallen for the same trick, but before they could look back their heads became wrapped in a reddish magic glow.  With a quiet shout Trotter levitated their heads together, knocking them both out.

Trotter smirked as he panted from exhaustion.  He wasn’t good at casting this many spells this quickly, after he escaped with Sash he would need to take a long break.  He shook his head, he couldn’t think about that now, he had to continue forward, first things first, the exit.

            Trotter, or rather his full name, Trotter Grey was a young chestnut colored unicorn from the small town of Hollow Shades.  He had a short, messy ash grey mane that unevenly stuck up in several places.  He hadn’t used any gel or product to keep the parts of his mane sticking up, it just did that on its own.  There was also a crimson highlight that stretched down from his hair and reached for his left eye, another part of his mane that he didn’t use a product for, just another natural thing it did.  Then there were his eyes, he had a great admiration for them.  They had a bright neon purple color that seemed to glow in the light of his spell.

            Around his neck he wore a long, striped black and dark grey scarf and right below it was a fine light black vest that always seemed to fit him perfectly.  Over the years several light brown patches had been poorly sown into his vest where he had acquired tears from the wear and tear of adventuring.  Then on each of his sides two large dark brown saddle bags shook and jingled with loot he had…“acquired” over the years.

            Trotter had been wandering through the bowels of the changeling citadel for a good time now.  It had been at least fifteen minutes since he had escaped from his predicament and the maze-like undercroft had been much harder to navigate than the first time down here.  It was especially difficult now that he had to dim his spell in fear of being discovered again, it was only bright enough for him to just see a few feet in front of himself.

            Trotter froze in place, he had been discovered.  Trotter had been so focused on where he was going he hadn’t been aware of the quiet hoof beats trailing behind him.  A voice had called to him from where he had last heard the hoof beats of whoever was stalking him.  It was a familiar, low fruity voice.

            “Geez, you’re taking your sweet ass time.”

            It took Trotter a moment to realize who it was, but when he did he couldn’t help but laugh.  “Is my ass really sweet?”

            “You know it Grey!”  Sash said growing dangerously louder.

            Trotter turned around and faced the cloaked figure, his light revealing the features of him.  In the light Sash’s dark steel hoof, his front left one, gleamed in the low light.  His metal hoof looked very similar to a regular hoof, just suited with a piece of lead colored metal.  From underneath the worn brown hood Trotter could see a light black striped muzzle stick out.  The rest of his body, even though it was hidden by a cloak, had similar light black and white strips covering the top of his back, his long tail, hooves, and short mohawk which awkwardly stuck up in his hood.  The parts of his body that weren’t covered in the stripes were a lightish grey color similar to most other zebras they had met before.

            “Shhh, quiet Sash, do want to wake up the rest the nest?  I’ve already had a run in today and I barely got out of that alive.”

            “Oh yeah!”  Sash said equally as loud as before, “I saw that!”  Sash flipped back his hood revealing the rest of his stripped face and two bright yellow eyes.  “I hope whatever you stole was worth it!”

            “What did I just say, hush now!”  Trotter yelled, his voice echoing down the passage.

Sash quickly shoved his hoof into Trotter’s mouth.  “Shhh, you need to control your volume or else you will attract more of those insects.”  Sash whispered.  He slowly removed his hoof from Trotter’s face and snickered at him.

            At first Trotter just glared at Sash for a moment, but it quickly faded into joy and he joined Sash in his laughter.

            “Haha, okay brother we should get out of here, did you find a suitable exit while I was down here?”  Trotter asked.

            “Uh…”  Sash looked up nervously and kicked the ground with his metal hoof.

            “Sash…?”

            Sash looked back at Trotter and smiled, “Haha!  Gotcha!  Of course I did!  Who do you think I am?”

            “I think you’re the zebra crazy enough to flirt with an angry griffon.”

            Sash started down the pass, “Come on the exit is this way…and that griffon was too hot not try!”

            Trotter quickly followed to the side of Sash, “I wasn’t talking about that one.”

            “Oh…well…he was just as attractive and if I had gone with my other pickup line I could have had him!”  Sash looked over to Trotter who was giving him a skeptical look.  “Oh shut up!  Let’s get out of here.  Any idea of where we’re going next?”

            Trotter smiled.  “I think I know the perfect place.” Next Chapter: The Next Adventure Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes